


Into the Light

by AdelaideRivers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Multi, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:58:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 131,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelaideRivers/pseuds/AdelaideRivers
Summary: "When Adelaide Rivers woke up at the Stark Tower, she had no idea how she got there or why her head felt like it was being repeatedly hit with a hammer."~Adelaide Rivers doesn't remember anything that happened before she opened her eyes at the Stark Tower and finding the answers to her questions about her past is what she wants more than anything, but those answers prove to be difficult to find. Until then, Adelaide is to stay with Tony and Pepper. When Pepper makes Adelaide start going to school, a certain boy named Peter Parker catches her attention. Following through all the loops and twists of this new life, will Adelaide find her answers? And more importantly, will she be able to handle them?-----A Peter Parker x OC (Tom Holland), but he's not the center of it and a lot of the other Avengers will come into play. Minor profanity, but nothing terrible. Unless you speak Russian. Then there's a lot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Adelaide is my new obsession and this story kind of just popped into my head out of nowhere. This is a Peter Parker x OC fanfic, but it's a little more than that because Adelaide will have a relationship with other Avengers too. Anyways, so Peter will appear around chapter 7, 8, or 9. Not sure yet because I don't plan, I just write as it comes to me. Which is also why I still need to plan how Peter's timeline coincides with Adelaide's.
> 
> The story is set well after Iron Man 3 and about a little less than a year before Age of Ultron. My goal is to continue the story into Infinity War and Avengers 4, but the MCU timeline is a mess so we'll have to see how I work around that. For certain, the story will go Infinity War and Avengers 4. Just FYI, since it's been a while since Infinity War came out, there might be some spoilers in the A/N, but I'll try to warn you before they come.
> 
> I will say that this first chapter is kind of like the 'pilot' and shorter than usual, but hopefully the rest will be a bit longer.
> 
> Also, this story has a trailer and it would be amazing if you checked it out because I worked super hard on it and I personally think it's very fitting. Here's the link, tell me how it is!
> 
> watch?v=OapBMts_H6U
> 
> I won't drag this out any longer, so here it is!

 

* * *

_"…I've always wanted a_

_s_ _trange teenager to show_

_up at my doorstep,_

_half dead."_

* * *

When Adelaide Rivers woke up in the Stark Tower, she had no idea how she got there or why her head felt as if it was being repeatedly hit with a hammer. No, she didn't know why Tony Stark's head of security, Happy Hogan, was pacing in front of her, talking on the phone in a hushed manner. No, she didn't have any recollection of anything before she opened her eyes. No, she couldn't figure out why Happy looked so worried when she began to stand up. And no, she didn't know why she felt so dizzy. There was a loud ringing in her ears that she couldn't shake off and it seemed to block all other sounds. Her vision was blurry, yet she couldn't clear it up no matter how many times she blinked or shook her head.

At first, it was quiet. Then it got louder and louder until, all at once, her vision and hearing cleared immediately. She could then clearly see Happy forcing her to sit down as her dizziness began to fade away and the room turned right side up.

"Hey, hey, kid you alright?" She rubbed her forehead, begging it to stop pounding. It seemed to be screaming at her.

"I – what? Where am I?" she asked, dazed. Happy paused for a heartbeat, contemplating.

"The Stark Tower," he answered. She looked at him in dismay.

"What?"

"Look, kid. I don't know you, you don't know me, okay? So let's start with me. I'm Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's head of security." Adelaide could do nothing more than blink at him, causing him to release a heavy sigh.

"…And this would be the part where you tell me who you are," he said slowly. She blinked once again.

"I –" Suddenly, the ringing in her ears hit her again. She pressed her hands against her ears, trying to get it to stop, when the dizziness started once again. Adelaide felt her stomach tying itself into a tight knot and suddenly, her vision went dark.

* * *

When Adelaide woke up again, it was a similar situation, but an entirely different room. This time, Tony Stark himself was in the room, yet he failed to look even slightly stressed or worried that there was an unknown teenager sleeping on his couch. The ringing in Adelaide's ears had ceased, yet her head was pounding faster than her heart. She felt the dizziness once again as she began to stand up. Tony turned around, noticing.

"Hey kid, you alright? I'm Tony, by the way," he said, extending his hand out for a formal handshake. The girl looked at him like that was obvious. He retracted his hand, clearing his throat. "Right. You probably already knew that."

He turned around and began walking back to his desk.

"So what brings you here?" he asked, glancing back, "Other than a very tired Happy Hogan." Adelaide looked around the room, trying to get familiar with her surroundings. She was in a basement of some sorts. She noticed the display of the Iron Man suits along the wall and the huge workspace in the middle of the room. Tony was still talking, she realized.

"…I've always wanted a strange teenager to show up at my doorstep, half dead. I – what's your name again, kid?"

"Adelaide," she answered, feeling a little fazed.

"Uh, yeah, no. Too long. Can I call you Adie? I'm gonna call you Adie. So, Adie, how do you like your juice?" he asked, walking away, "Orange? Apple? Orange and apple? Iced? Iced with orange and..." His voice faded away as he went into another room. All those questions made her head ache even more. Her gaze fell on the desk Tony was working on and she walked to it. There was an arm from the famous Iron Man suit. It was open, revealing the mess of tangled wires and complex parts inside. Her eyes wandered over to a picture frame of a ginger-haired woman in the middle of a laugh with her eyes crinkled at the corners; she seemed as if she'd never hurt a fly. Adelaide recognized her from the news as Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's girlfriend and CEO of Stark Industries.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Adelaide swung around and twisted his arm behind his back, making him cry out in pain before she realized it was Tony.

"It's just me," he said, his voice strained. She dropped his arm, embarrassed. Where had she learned that?

Tony turned around, stretching his arm in pain.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, surprised that a fragile teenager like her could take him so easily.

"Self-defense," she answered with a subtle underlying tone of humor.

"Right," he said sarcastically, rolling his shoulder, "Anyway, I was out of juice so I got you a Coke." He picked the can up from the desk and handed it to her.

Adelaide took it and carefully brought it up to her lips which, she realized, were dry and bleeding. They stung as the cool liquid touched them, yet she was grateful to have something in her stomach. The girl couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. Tony watched her as the teenager seemingly swallowed the whole can in seconds.

"Do you –" he glanced back into the kitchen, "– Do you want something to eat?"

She glanced into the kitchen behind Tony.

"No," she said, but then her stomach growled and Tony gave her an incredulous look, leading her into the kitchen.

"Pizza sound good?" he asked. She nodded. He heated it up and tossed her another Coke which she caught with ease, without looking up, too meddled in her thoughts. This seemed unsettling to Tony. He wondered if the girl was a shapeshifter who was actually a combat-trained criminal instead of the tiny teenager who sat before him. Tony convinced himself that she had just caught him off guard, that's all. He could've taken her if he wanted to. He was Tony Stark. He had defeated many villains and this was just a teenager.

The billionaire put the pizza in front of Adelaide, but snatched it away before she could grab it.

"Yeah, yeah, call me mean, but I'll only give you this if you talk. Deal?" he said. Adelaide tried to consider it, but her stomach growled once again.

"Fine," she mumbled. He carefully slid the plate back to her and she began gobbling it down in seconds.

"вкусно," Adelaide mumbled. The word had just slipped out of her mouth. Tony heard it, even though she had mumbled it with her mouth full. He pulled a chair and sat down in front of her.

"I heard that. That sounded like Russian. Was that Russian? What did you say? Do you speak Russian? Adie, do you speak Russian?" He threw the questions at her so quickly, her head began aching again, a dull throbbing that seemed impossible to ignore. Yet, Adelaide had the same questions as Tony. How did she know Russian?

"I-I don't know," she answered, "I think?"

"Alright kid, now I know my Russian's a little rusty so just stick with English for now, okay? So tell me your name," the billionaire asked, "Your whole name."

"Adelaide Maxwell Rivers," she answered, the name just rolling off her tongue.

"Too many syllables. I'm still calling you Adie," he said and waved the topic away. Adelaide tried not to roll her eyes. "Next question. Where're you from?"

She hesitated. The truth was, she had no idea. She had no memory of anything before she had opened her eyes. Yet, for some reason, something in the back of her mind told her she was supposed to be here. Adelaide felt as if she was in the right place.

"I don't know," she said, "I can't remember."

Tony eyed the teenager carefully.

"So you're telling me, that you passed all the security on your way into the Tower, woke up at the Tower, and have no idea how you got here?" he asked. "And I thought I was having trouble remembering where I put my keys," he mumbled to himself.

"I don't remember anything before that, either," she pointed out.

"Yeah, I got that," he said, looking deep in thought. He looked up. "Tell me something else. Anything that pops into mind."

"I'm 13," Adelaide said. Tony was reminded of how she had his arm twisted behind his back before he even had the chance to react. He made a mental note to program JARVIS for combat lessons.

"I can speak English, Russian…German, and Ukrainian. Oh, and Spanish. But only a little."

"Yeah, not important," he said, "Who're your parents?"

"I…" Adelaide didn't know. The teenager had no idea who her parents were. She didn't even know what they looked like, let alone their names. She had no image of them in her mind.

"Let me guess," the billionaire said, "you don't know. That's starting to become more and more annoying, you know that?"

He was right, Adelaide thought. Her lack of memory was bothering her. Why didn't she know? What had happened before she opened her eyes? Where would she find the answers? But the real question was, would she be able to handle them?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Pepper and Tony are supposed to be like 'taking a break' or something, but for the sake of this story, they're not and they're going to be together even during Age of Ultron and Civil War.
> 
> This chapter wasn't supposed to be so important to the story, but I ended up making it the basis for like the next 5 chapters. Oops. I'll just say that this chapter was an ABSOLUTE PAIN to write. Mainly because I didn't plan and then ended up publishing the first chapter without realizing what a mess it was. So I had to rewrite this whole chapter again. And I still haven't fixed everything. 
> 
> Anyway, in this chapter, we get to see Pepper meet Adie which is something I have been looking forward to ever since the idea first popped into my head. Adie's relationship with Tony and Pepper is my favorite because they end up becoming like her parents and we all know that Tony is still a child so now Pepper has two teenagers to look after lol.
> 
> So this chapter is a tad bit longer than the last one, but just wait till chapter 3...;)
> 
> Just a warning, I don't speak Russian. I've heard Google Translate isn't that good, so sorry if some of it's not accurate lol.

* * *

_"Abracadabra."_

* * *

Adelaide was in a guest room, trying to find out more about what had happened before she opened her eyes. She was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, raking her brain for any sort of memory, but there was absolutely  _nothing_. Adelaide didn't have a single memory of her 13 years of life before she opened her eyes today. How was that possible?

She stood up, the dull ache in her head returning, and walked into the bathroom. Somehow, everything in Tony Stark's penthouse managed to look so expensive, she couldn't even imagine the zeros that trailed after the number. The bathroom was fully equipped with everything anyone could ask for, yet all Adelaide wanted was cold water. She turned on the sink, changing the water to the coldest temperature possible and splashed a handful of it onto her face.

"Think," she mumbled to herself.

_Use your measly brain and think. What had happened?_

_Think._

_Splash!_

_What had happened?_

_Splash!_

_Come on, Adelaide._

_Splash!_

_Think!_

_Splash!_

_THINK!_

The teenager looked into the mirror at her own reflection. Her face stung from the ice-cold water. It had turned red – from anger or the water, she did not know. Her electric blue eyes seemed to shine brighter than the overhead lights. Adelaide thought she must be imagining things, but her blue eyes almost seemed to be glowing. She stared into them, until suddenly, her head exploded with pain and she fell to the ground, screaming in agony. She opened her eyes carefully, uncurling from the fetus position she had fell into. There was a ringing in her ears, but it was bearable. Adelaide scrambled up, realizing she wasn't in Tony's guest bathroom anymore.

She was in a car, sitting in the backseat. There was a little girl sitting next to her, happily playing with her doll and humming to herself. The girl looked average with her brown hair, except her big blue eyes were abnormally bright. Adelaide studied her carefully. She had seen those eyes somewhere before…

The girl didn't seem to notice her and continued to play with her teddy bear. Adelaide grew confused. Wasn't she just playing with a doll two seconds ago? Her mind was just messing with her, Adelaide told herself. She looked past the girl and out the window, trying to figure out where they were. It was clearly very late in the night and the car was driving over a broken road, running through some unrecognizable woods. There were no signs or lampposts. Just the dark and scary woods.

The ringing in her ears faded away and she could hear two voices conversing in the front seats of the car.

"I'm worried, Henry," the woman said, "She's still a little girl." The woman looked like the older version of the girl sitting next to her. They shared the same chocolate hair and electric blue eyes. Adelaide assumed the woman must be the girl's mother.

"I am too, Ava," the man said, his eyes still on the road, "but we've done the best we could. She's safe." Ava didn't look assured.

"This – all of this – it's unfair to her. She's just a child!" Henry reached over and grabbed his wife's hand. He glanced at her for a second, but his eyes were still fixed on the road. Ava stubbornly looked out the window, a deep frown on her face. The woman looked tired and her eyes were filled with guilt and regret.

"Ava, listen to me. Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world. No one will be able to touch her," Henry said. Ava softened, looking down at her hand holding her husband's.

"Not even him?" she whispered.

"Not even him," Henry said firmly. The man's eyes glazed over with determination. No one was going to touch his daughter as long as he was alive. Ava looked out the window again, her gaze beyond the dark trees.

"I hope you're right," she whispered. He squeezed her hand.

"Just watch, Ava. Our daughter will avenge us," he said, looking at his wife, "I promise."

His attention wasn't on the road now, he was watching his wife's beautiful blue eyes that made him fall in love with her many years ago. Those bright eyes were what got him through the dark days of their life. They both shared a sad smile that seemed to hide a thousand stories.

Adelaide looked at the little girl sitting next to her again. She was holding a small, green dinosaur now, humming a familiar song. Their daughter was oblivious to the conversation her parents were having, happily playing with her…doll. Wasn't it just a dinosaur?

Adelaide looked ahead again, silently watching the road. She felt a strange sort of comfort sitting in the car, like her heart was finally content. She was in the right place.

Then, in the distance, Adelaide could see a pair of headlights coming towards them. That car was driving on the wrong side of the road, she realized. It was coming right at them at it wasn't slowing down. Adelaide looked beside her. The little girl was still playing just as happily. Henry was saying something to Ava, his eyes not watching the road. Adelaide felt the air leaving her lungs. She struggled to find the right words to say.

"Watch out!" she screamed, but no one heard a word. The car was dangerously fast and dangerously close. She closed her eyes. She couldn't breathe.

Ava screamed, "HENRY!"

Henry's eyes grew wide and he spun the steering to the right, but it was too late. The car crashed into theirs and Adelaide instinctively embraced the little girl, but her hands went right through. Both cars skid off the road, theirs hitting a tree. Adelaide sat up, looking around at the damage. The little girl was barely conscious, like her parents. She seemed confused as to what was happening.

"Momma…" she whispered painfully. There was a trail of blood running down from a wide gash on her arm. Adelaide had to do something. But what?

"Adie!" someone yelled, but Adelaide barely heard the voice. She was panicking.

Outside, a black car appeared next to theirs. Adelaide watched through the shattered window as the driver got out and opened the back door. Another man stepped out, in the middle of reloading his gun. His dark eyes locked onto their car, narrowing as his thin lips curved into a smile. Adelaide watched him in terror. She was shaking in fear. Somehow unaffected by the disturbing sight of the accident, he gracefully walked over to whatever was left of their car, casually bending over to see the couple.

"Adie!" someone yelled again.

Upon seeing him, Henry's eyes narrowed. Even with the blood on his face, Adelaide could see the hatred embed into his expression. On the other hand, Ava was trying to keep her fear and pain from showing. The woman kept subtly glancing into the backseat, at her daughter. The man seemed to notice this.

"Adelaide!"

A terrifying smile appeared onto his face. The smile not wavering, he aimed his gun at Henry's head. Adelaide gasped, reaching out before she realized.

There was nothing she could do.

She screamed.

The ringing in her ears returned and then, all at once, everything went black. Adelaide felt herself falling. She opened her eyes, gasping for air. She scrambled up, pushing herself away before she realized it was only Tony.

"Hey, hey, it's just me," he said softly. Adelaide was struggling to breathe, sweat rolling down her forehead. Her hair was sticking to her neck and she was completely drenched in sweat. The teenager was shaking from fear.

"I heard you scream and then I found you like this. Are you okay?" he asked.

Adelaide looked into his brown eyes, breathless. Her throat felt raw as she said these next words.

"I know who my parents are."

* * *

Tony had forced Adelaide to take a cold shower to clean the sweat and then get some rest. He had given her some of Pepper's clothes which loosely fit, considering Pepper was much taller than her. Even then, Adelaide was grateful to change into a sweater and sweats. Although the shower cleaned the sweat, it did nothing to her memories.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

Adelaide sat down at the foot of her bed, staring at the long scar on her arm. The memory was still so vivid. She looked at her shaky hands, clenching and then unclenching them. There was nothing special about her, not as far as she knew. Other than her massive migraine, she felt painfully normal. Then why did her parents believe she would become the most powerful person in the world? Adelaide looked into the mirror. Her blue eyes had turned dim, unlike before and they looked exceedingly dull. Her wet, brown hair certainly added to the 'dull' effect, making her seem absolutely normal. How was she supposed to be the most powerful person in the world?

_Our daughter will avenge us._

Adelaide felt as if she was missing a big piece of a puzzle. What couldn't she remember? What was her life like before she had opened her eyes? Why were her parents killed? What had they done? If she was the most powerful person in the world, then why couldn't she have stopped the accident? The frustration maddened her.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Adelaide said quietly. Tony walked with Pepper trailing behind him.

"See, I told you she's real," Tony started, "And she hasn't ran away yet. Which means I'm a good babysitter." Pepper rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide her smile.

"Fine, I believe you. Now go," she said, lightly pushing him out. She closed the door behind him. Pepper carefully sat down on the floor, next to the teenager.

"Adelaide, right?" Pepper asked softly. Adelaide nodded.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Adelaide answered. Pepper looked at the girl's reflection in the mirror.

"How are you really feeling?" she asked. Adelaide sighed.

"Like I was hit by a train," she said, making Pepper smile. "Thanks for the clothes," she added after a second, "I'll give them back before I leave."

"What do you mean leave?" Pepper said, "You are in no condition to leave. Especially not now, when you can't remember anything. You're staying with us until we can find your parents –"

"My parents are dead." Pepper looked at her in dismay.

"What?"

Adelaide closed her eyes, thinking of those last moments in the car. She couldn't feel any remorse because she didn't even remember what they were like. The memory of the accident was all she remembered of them.

"Is this from the memory earlier? Tony told me about it," Pepper said after Adelaide didn't say anything. The girl nodded.

"I am so sorry Adelaide," Pepper said quietly. Adelaide shook her head.

"I don't remember them. I only know their names. Henry and Ava," she said. Adelaide was caught by surprise when Pepper hugged her. After a moment, Adelaide hugged her back awkwardly, a strange feeling settling into her chest. Was it comfort? It felt kind of…nice.

"We'll fix this," Pepper said, pulling away, "I promise. And until then, you're staying here."

Adelaide didn't really want to stay. She wanted to go out there and find some answers, but she knew her best bet was to stay here and let Tony and Pepper help her find those answers. And, the teenager had nowhere else to go. She knew no one else besides these two. She would find her answers faster if she let them help. Maybe she would even be able to find the man who killed her parents.

"Thank you," she said. Pepper smiled and stood up, patting her shoulder.

"I'll go tell Tony. We can decide what do next tomorrow. It's getting late and you need some rest," Pepper said, "Let me know if you need anything, I'll be back before you go to sleep." Adelaide nodded. With that, Pepper left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Adelaide stared at the door for a second before looking away.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

That sentence. That damned sentence. It had been running around in her mind for hours, yet she couldn't figure it out. Were her parents royals and now she was supposed to take the throne? Is that the kind of power they meant? No, Adelaide thought, they can't be royals.

Maybe her parents believed she had some kind of powers. Like Thor or the Hulk. Magic, perhaps? Maybe she was a witch, like that one from  _Harry Potter_. Adelaide looked around the room, trying to find something to experiment on. Her eyes landed on the hairbrush sitting on the dresser, in front of the mirror.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

She closed her eyes and focused her energy on moving the hairbrush with only her mind. She stretched her left hand out, trying to direct the energy towards it. She moved her hand around, but nothing happened. The hairbrush stayed in the same place.

"Abracadabra," she whispered, feeling kind of stupid. Again, the hairbrush didn't move. Of course it didn't move. What was she expecting? Sparkles and light coming out from her hand? This is pointless, Adelaide told herself, you're not powerful, you're average. This was stupid. She felt stupid. She didn't have any magical powers. If anything, her little experiment had made her even more angry at herself.

Adelaide groaned and stood up to grab the hairbrush herself for her tangled hair. She hadn't bothered to brush it after her shower, not really in the mood to do a hairstyle after she watched her parents die. Adelaide sat down in front of the mirror, rhythmically brushing her hair. She watched the brush smooth out her hair, straightening it. It was almost hypnotic.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

She focused watching the hairbrush to avoid thinking about the sentence. It would just mess with her mind again.

_Our daughter will avenge us._

The hairbrush, she told herself. Just watch the hairbrush. Don't think about anything else.

_I promise._

Adelaide realized she was gritting her teeth, trying to stop thinking about the memory. Angrily, she threw the brush to the floor. She couldn't take it anymore. The voices in her head were relentlessly saying the same thing over and over again. She was going to lose her mind thinking about what they meant. Adelaide had to figure out what her father meant. She needed to know her power. The girl looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was colored with anger and set with determination.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Adelaide picked up the hairbrush off the floor and tried to control her anger for the moment.

"Come in." Pepper walked in, a kind smile on her face.

"Hey, I just wanted to check in to see if you need anything before you go to bed." Adelaide forced a smile.

"No, I'm good," she answered.

"Okay," Pepper said, "Well, goodnight, then."

"Goodnight." As much as she appreciated Pepper checking in on her, Adelaide wanted this conversation to be over as quickly as possible. Pepper began to close the door, then stopped halfway, opening it again.

"Oh, and Adelaide?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah?"

"Please try not to worry too much. We're going to figure this out, just give it some time, okay?" Adelaide bit her lip. Little did she know, Adelaide did not want to give it any time. She wanted her answers right now and she was going to get them right now. But Adelaide nodded, for her sake and Pepper's.

Pepper smiled gently. "Goodnight, Adelaide."

As soon as the door, was shut, Adelaide began planning how she was going to get her answers. Then, moments later, the perfect plan struck her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3, the longest chapter yet. This chapter was really fun to write, especially towards the end ;)
> 
> I know that Adelaide might seem a little...irrational in this chapter, but I couldn't think of another way for her to discover her powers and I tried to build the climax the best I could. In this chapter, we get to see Tony go from teenager to Irondad for a second, but not too long lol. Pepper becomes more of a parental figure for Adie. We also get to see a new character that doesn't seem very important now, but I'm planning on making him contribute a lot to the climax of this story which is wayyyyy down the road. I'm thinking we'll see him every now and then, but that's if I don't forget about him lol. Now that I think about it, we actually see two new characters. One them is kind of like the underdog and the other is like the big boss.
> 
> And to make up for the messy work, this chapter is extra long!

 

* * *

_"G-G-Ghost!"_

* * *

Maybe using adrenaline to create a plan wasn't the brightest idea, Adelaide thought as she stood on a diving board, looking down at the pool that seemed miles away. Her plan had seemed simple: test if she had any of the mainstream powers such as super strength, superspeed, flying, etc. But jumping off an extremely high diving board wasn't the best idea. In the midst of this, Adelaide had learned that she was afraid of heights. What's the use of a flying superpower if she didn't like heights?

_How is the ability to fly going to make me the most powerful person in the world?_

She looked down at the pool again. The teenager had trespassed to get here. Sure, it was a public pool, but it was past midnight and she had climbed over a fence to get inside. She wasn't going to turn away now. Adelaide took a deep breath; here goes nothing, she thought and jumped off. As she was falling, she concentrated on trying to make herself fly. She tried making her body feel weightless, but when Adelaide hit the water, she realized that flying wasn't her power. She couldn't tell if she was more relieved or disappointed. Relieved, Adelaide thought as she pulled herself out of the pool, she was relieved. She didn't want to fly.

Adelaide went back into the building, trying to find a towel. Down the corridor, all the doors were locked, except the last one. It was a locker room and luckily, someone had left a towel hanging outside. As she dried herself with the towel, Adelaide decided to leave quickly before anyone saw her. The teenager wasn't in the mood to get in trouble. She finished, hanging the towel back up and left the room, and quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Adelaide turned around. It was a security guard running towards her with a flashlight. Shit, she thought, she needed to get out of here. She frantically looked around for an exit, but she was at the end of the hall and there were no doors, just a set of stairs.

"Stop right there or I'm calling the police!" Left with no choice, she ran up the stairs. The layout of the second floor was far more confusing than the first one. There were so many corners and rooms. Adelaide just ran, hoping to find her way out. She could hear the guard catching up.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Adelaide felt as if she was running in circles. She couldn't even find the stairs she had climbed to get here.

"Stop right now! I'm calling the police!"

Adelaide turned another corner, feeling hopeful. It was a small, dark hall with only one door and it was slightly ajar. She ran inside, locking the door behind her even though she knew the guard probably had to keys to open it. The room was dark, but Adelaide could see that it was some kind of storage room. There was a small window that allowed some of the city lights to spill through. She hid behind a tall stack of large cardboard boxes in corner, holding her breath and listened carefully. The guard's footsteps grew louder and louder until he stopped in front of the door, shaking the door knob.

"What?" he asked, a slight Hispanic accent slipping through, "Do you take me for an idiot? I know you're in there, and I have the keys to open this door." Adelaide heard a certain jingle as he pulled out his keys. "Kids these days. They just grow stupider," he mumbled to himself as he unlocked the door. She heard a sharp  _click!_  and then he swung the door open.

"Now are you going to come out, or do I have to look for you?" He sighed when Adelaide didn't come out. He mumbled something about not getting paid enough. Adelaide watched him through a small crack between the stack of boxes.

"You know," he said, shining his flashlight behind a shelf, "you kids are really predictable these days." He checked behind a cabinet. "You never really surprise me. Do you know why?"

The guard looked inside some boxes, coming loser to where she was hiding. Adelaide took a step back, holding her breath. Her heart was about to beat itself right out of her chest and her stomach was tying itself into a knot. On accident, Adelaide knocked down a box, making the guard laugh. She looked around for a place to run, but she had trapped herself into a corner.

_Shit._

"Because you always reveal yourself," he said, knocking down the boxes in front of her. He shined the flashlight right at her eyes, and she instinctively covered her face, crouching into the corner. She waited for the next insult or for him to grab her arm, but nothing happened. Adelaide opened her eyes carefully. The guard was waving the flashlight around, looking right over her. The teenager studied the guard curiously.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he said, turning around. Adelaide sat there, confused.

_What just happened?_

She peered through the space between the boxes as the guard continued to search the room for her. He looked behind more shelves and boxes, getting restless. Adelaide grew more confused. She looked down, at herself.

Then, a lot of things happened at once. She realized she couldn't see her body – it just wasn't  _there_. She screamed, knocking over more boxes and making the guard look in her direction. When he didn't see anything, he took several steps back, scared out of his mind.

"G-G-Ghost!" he yelled and ran out of the room. Adelaide struggled to breathe, feeling more scared than the guard. She closed her eyes, willing for this nightmare to go away. Slowly, she opened her eyes and gathered the courage to look down. Suddenly, she could see her body again. It was there. All of it. She pinched her arm to make sure that it was real.

"Ouch!" she whispered into the dark. The air returned to her lungs. Her body was back, and it was real. She leaned against the wall, taking several deep breaths. What in the world was that? She couldn't see her body, but she still  _felt_  it. How was that even possible? The teenager closed her eyes, pulling her knees up to her chest. What was happening to her? In her plan to find answers, Adelaide had found more questions.

_Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world._

And in that moment, realization dawned her. For the first time since she had the memory, the sentence suddenly made sense. It made sense why the guard couldn't see her or why even she couldn't see herself.

Her power was invisibility.

* * *

Knowing the guard wouldn't be back for a while, Adelaide decided to stay in the storage room for a little longer and test out her powers. She sat on a dusty chair next to the window and used an old mirror she had found in a pile of rubbish. It was cracked and stained, but it would have to do. The teenager closed her eyes, focusing on making herself invisible again. Adelaide imagined the light from the window bending and curving around her to make her invisible. She felt her whole body buzzing with energy and excitement when she opened her eyes to the reflection of an empty chair in the mirror. She got so excited, she almost fell out of her chair. When she made herself reappear again, she noticed her blue eyes were brighter than usual. They almost seemed to be glowing like they had in the bathroom earlier when she had that memory.

Then, Adelaide got an idea. She concentrated on a stack of binders on the floor next to the mirror, stretching out her hand. She could feel tips of her fingers tingling slightly as she manipulated the light around her again. Right before her eyes, the stack of binders seemingly turned into a stack of pillows. In her excitement, she lost focus and the pillows turned back into binders. Adelaide sat back into her chair, beaming.

Her powers went farther than just invisibility, she realized – she could manipulate light to make people see, or not see, whatever she wanted. That explained why her memory felt so vivid. Without realizing it, she had bent the light around herself to make the illusion that she was reliving that memory again.

Hours passed. Adelaide had been so invested in discovering the limits of her power, she hadn't realized that it was already 2 in morning. Her eyes began dropping and she became more tired as she continued to use her powers. The teenager decided that it was time to go back to the Tower. She would continue this tomorrow.

As she stood up, her hair flaming red hair turned back to its original dark brown color. Despite how tired she felt, Adelaide decided it would be best if she turned herself invisible until she left the building. She left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. The teenager walked through the halls without worrying about being seen. Not having to worry about being chased by a guard this time, Adelaide found the exit easily.

As she climbed over the fence, she felt someone watching her. She whipped her head back, scanning the pool area, but there was no one. Adelaide reminded herself that she was invisible. No one could see her. Even then, she convinced herself it was probably just the guard from earlier. The teenager turned around and jumped down from the fence. Adelaide thought she heard footsteps, but it was still silent and there was still no one. She decided to get back to the Tower quickly. It was getting late and it was getting harder to keep herself invisible.

* * *

The man watched the fence shake as the girl jumped it, a sly grin on his face. She might be invisible, but he'd been watching her for years. He'd know her anywhere. He turned around, adjusting his eye patch and pulling out his phone. He dialed the number with one hand, twisting the gun casually in the other.

 _"_ _Tell me you have good news, Graves."_  The man chuckled.

"Good news? I have great news. The girl's doing exactly what we planned. She just found her powers."

 _"_ _Is she remembering anything?"_

"Nothing. You wiped her clean, Lukov."

 _"_ _хорошо. Let's hope she stays that way."_

"By the looks of it, she's going to stay this way for a while."

 _"_ _Keep me updated. If anything goes even slightly wrong –"_

"I know, I know. My head, your bullet. I've got this under control, Lukov. You just start planning our celebration party."

 _"_ _I will plan that when we're victorious. Keep your good eye on her."_ Lukov ended the call. As Graves put his phone back into his pocket, he heard some footsteps coming from around the corner. In half a second, he had his finger hooked around the trigger, ready to pull without hesitation. Shoot first, think later was his mantra. He had killed so many men, it was like a game now. A sort of entertainment.

Then, a man turned the corner, oblivious he was living the last moments of his life. Graves recognized him as the guard who was chasing the girl earlier. This should be fun, he thought. The guard's eyes grew wide when he saw the gun that was aimed at his forehead. He put his hands up, taking a step back. Graves curled his lip deviously.

"Any last words, officer?" The man opened his mouth, probably to plead, but Graves didn't wait. He pulled the trigger. He had heard too many men plead and it was always 'please let me go, I have kids' or 'please, I won't tell anyone'. The man just didn't have the patience to hear it again.

"Told you, Lukov. I've got it all under control," he said to himself, grinning maniacally. Graves stepped over dead man, leaving the place – and the body – behind him without turning back. He'd stopped feeling remorse for the dead a long time ago. But here, the guard was the least of his problems.

He was only here for the girl.

* * *

Soon enough, Adelaide was back out on the street, where there were lights and a crowd. The city seemed to be ignoring the fact that it was 2 in the morning and it was only slightly less crowded than it was during the daytime. Adelaide made herself visible again before merging into the crowd. She didn't have any money to take a cab back to the Tower, but it wasn't far so she just decided to walk. It would give her more time to think _._

_Our daughter will avenge us._

She knew what her power was, but she still couldn't understand why she needed to use it to avenge her parents. Why did that man kill them? What had they done? She still was still missing something important. There was something from her past that she didn't know yet and it seemed to be the one thing that would answer all her questions. But her mind was still stubbornly blank and Adelaide couldn't remember anything no matter how hard she tried. She was going to have to get her answers from somewhere else. Maybe she could find someone from her past who would be able to give her the answers she wanted and maybe there was a chance she would be able to find out how she lost her memory in the first place. There must be –

"Hey! Watch it kid!" Adelaide had accidentally bumped into man who was walking next to her, lost in her thoughts. The teenager lost her balance, falling into oncoming traffic.

Adelaide looked up and her eyes locked onto a truck racing towards her. Her body seemed to freeze in place. She couldn't see anything but the truck and how fast it was coming towards her. The truck was only 2 seconds away and by the time she had control over her body again, but it was too late. She closed her eyes, instinctively covering her face.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted off the ground moments before the truck made impact. Adelaide opened her eyes, dazed. She was in the air, flying over the city, the truck left behind her. The teenager was being carried by a pair of red and yellow metal arms. She looked up to find herself face to face with Iron Man.

"Tony?" He ignored her and continued to look ahead. Adelaide looked around. He was taking her towards the Tower, landing perfectly on the top. He put her down and stepped out of the suit. Adelaide hadn't seen Tony look this angry when she had his arm pinned behind his back. He walked past Adelaide, not acknowledging her.

"Tony." He stopped. Then, he marched back to her.

" _What_   _the_   _hell_  were you thinking?" he yelled, "You almost died out there tonight." Adelaide stayed silent.

"Tell me," he said, his voice cold, "what was so important that you had to leave the security of this Tower and wander through a city that you don't know your way around at 2 in the morning? What was it, Adie? What was so important that you almost died for it tonight?"

"It was my memory." Tony stopped, listening. "My parents…they said that I had some kind of power. I had to find out what it was." Tony watched the teenager as she fumbled for words. The same teenager who had his arm pinned behind his back this morning was struggling to find the right words to say now. The billionaire was reminded that she was still just a teenager and softened slightly.

"Did you find out?" he asked quietly. Adelaide nodded, forgetting the incident that had almost taken place seconds before.

"Well, what is it?"

"I can control light," she answered, feeling the buzzing energy in her veins again. Adelaide altered the light around her to make herself seem as if she was inside the Iron Man suit. Then, she made it disappear and made a clone of herself appear. As the clone vanished, so did she. Adelaide walked around Tony, standing behind him before making herself visible again. She tapped his shoulder. He jumped, turning around. His gaze got cloudy, as if he was deep in thought about something.

"You're forgiven," he said a moment later, "but first, turn your hair back to brown. Red's not your color." Adelaide reached up to touch her hair.

"I thought it looked nice," she said. He shook his head.

"Brown." Adelaide rolled her eyes and turned it back to brown.

"And second, why are your eyes glowing?" The teenager shrugged.

"I think they glow whenever I use my power. I can't help it." Adelaide briefly thought about the girl in the car.

"I'd say that's strange, but so is the ability to manipulate light." He yawned. "You know what," he said, "we'll deal with this tomorrow. I'm too tired to be a genius right now."

The teenager agreed. She felt as if she could fall asleep right where she was standing, she was that tired. Adelaide followed Tony into the penthouse, holding back a yawn of her own. Inside, it was dark and silent. Tony stopped her.

"Not a word of this to Pepper, do you understand?" he whispered. Adelaide nodded obediently. She knew that Pepper would get really worked up over this especially after she had told Adelaide to give it some time. Yeah, it was best if Pepper didn't find out that Adelaide had almost died tonight.

Suddenly, the lights turned on, revealing a very cross Pepper standing in the room. Tony halted, looking like a deer caught in headlights. As menacing as Pepper looked, Adelaide tried not to laugh at Tony's expression.

"Not a word of what to me, Tony?" she asked, crossing her arms. Adelaide could hear Tony mumble underneath his breath.

"Damn."

"Well, Adie and I were just out for a walk," he lied, "You know, fresh air and…other…healthy stuff. Right, Adie?" He subtly nudged her with his elbow and Adelaide nodded immediately. Pepper obviously didn't believe a word. She uncrossed her arms, revealing the tv remote in her hand, and switched the tv on. Adelaide's attention turned to the giant flat screen against the wall as it streamed live news.

 _"_ _The public came very close experiencing a very gruel incident that almost took place here in Midtown Manhattan, but it was prevented thanks to our favorite, Iron Man. Let's see some footage of what happened now."_

The screen switched to a shaky video of Adelaide taken from the sidewalk. She was on the road, frozen from fear in front of the truck. Adelaide winced. Although the footage didn't show her face, it made her look weak and she hated that. She cursed at herself for not having control over her own body. A second before the truck hit her, Iron Man flew in and swooped her off the road. The crowd was cheering and then the video cut off. Pepper switched the tv off and Adelaide stared at her reflection in it. She looked like a mess.

"Last time I checked, going for a walk didn't include getting hit by truck or the Iron Man suit," Pepper said.

"In case you were wondering, I already scolded Adie so we can all go to bed now and discuss this tomorrow when it's not 2 a.m. in the morning," Tony said, beginning to walk away. Adelaide winced as she watched Pepper grow angrier. That was definitely not the right thing to say.

"Oh, so you just tell Adelaide to not do something like this again and then pretend like it didn't happen? Tony, Adelaide almost died tonight under out watch! We can't just ignore that."

"I wasn't ignoring it."

"You weren't even going to tell me!"

"I was going to, just not right now. Tomorrow," he said. Pepper turned to Adelaide, taking a deep breath.

"Adelaide, go to your room and wait for me there," she said. If it was anyone else, Adelaide would have argued, but this was Pepper and she was furious. She left without a word.

In her room, she sat at the foot of her bed again, legs crossed. She could hear Tony and Pepper arguing, but she couldn't make out what they were saying exactly. Adelaide knew it was about her, though. She had been careless tonight and this had been the result. It was her fault they were arguing. She unconsciously ran her fingers over her scar. Now that she knew she had powers, she would have to use them carefully. The teenager still didn't know who the man who killed her parents was or even why he did it, but until she found out, she decided it would be best if she kept her powers to herself. Without knowing her past, it was too dangerous to tell anyone. Soon, Adelaide realized that it was silent once again. They had stopped fighting.

There was a knock on the door, and Pepper walked in.

"Hey," Adelaide said quietly. Pepper carefully took a seat next to her. For a moment, it was completely silent. Then, Adelaide spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Pepper. I shouldn't have ran out like that. It was my fault and Tony was just trying to help. He saved my life."

"I know," she said softly, "We talked it out." Adelaide watched her carefully.

"So you two are good?" she asked. Pepper smiled gently.

"Yeah, we're good, but he's sleeping on the couch for tonight." This made Adelaide laugh. A grown man, billionaire, running a multi-billion dollar corporation, sleeping on the couch tonight because he got in trouble. He was going to get an earful of jokes from her tomorrow.

"But we still need to talk about what happened," Pepper said, dropping her smile. She was being serious again. "What were you thinking, Adelaide? You almost died tonight. Why did you leave and where in the world did you go? You don't even know your way around the city yet." Adelaide decided to tell her the truth. Her gut told her that she could trust her.

"In my memory, I heard my parents talking. They said that I have some kind of power that would make me the most powerful person in the world. They said that I would avenge them. I wanted to figure out what that power was and why I was supposed to avenge them. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until I found out the truth so…I went on a power hunt," she said. Thinking about it now, her idea to search for her power was a little – no, it was very stupid. She wanted to scold herself for coming up with such a stupid idea. She knew she was smarter than this, but her curiosity had blinded her.

"But you could have searched for it tomorrow. Tony and I would've helped." Adelaide nodded, filled with guilt and anger towards herself. She had just caused more problems for everyone. The two of them sat in silence for a little while until Pepper spoke up.

"You realize there's going to be consequences for this, right?" Adelaide winced. Somehow, she had seen this coming. She might not have known Pepper for very long at all, but this was expected. "From now on, you are not allowed to leave the Tower unless Tony, Happy, or I am with you. And you are definitely not allowed to sneak out in the middle of the night.

"So I'm staying here?" Adelaide asked quietly. Pepper stopped, dropping her anger in a heartbeat.

"Of course – I thought we already decided that you were going to stay here until your memories come back or we find your home again."

"I know, I just…never mind," Adelaide said. It was stupid anyways.

"What is it, Adelaide?" Pepper asked quietly. Adelaide shrugged.

"It's just…you guys are being so nice and I don't…This morning, when I was with Tony, he tapped my shoulder unexpectedly and I impulsively pinned his arm behind his back before I realized it was him. I know I can't remember anything from my past, but I'm worried, Pepper. If my first instinct was to twist someone's arm behind their back, then I'm not sure about the person I was before this. In my memory, there was this man who killed my parents and I still can't figure out why. Honestly, with everything going on…I don't know if I was safer then, or if I'm safer now." Adelaide felt as if she had lifted a big weight off her chest. Ever since she found out about her power, she couldn't stop thinking about her past. What if she had misused her power in the past?

"Adelaide, I know you can't remember anything, but thinking the worst about yourself isn't going to make this any better. Whatever your past is, you can't change it anymore," Pepper said. She gently placed her hand on the teenager's arm. "And I can promise you, you won't be as safe anywhere else as safe as you are here."

Adelaide nodded, but she wasn't reassured yet. The teenager didn't trust herself. She didn't know what she was capable of. Until she found out the whole truth, she wouldn't feel comfortable in her own skin and no amount of safety could protect her from herself.

What Adelaide Rivers didn't know was that she didn't need to be protected from herself, but rather the truth.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short mainly because it's a filler and I really like these two guys working together (hint: they always make the problem worse when they do) and because I need to use this chapter to set up the next one. There's one newish character, more Pepper and Irondad parenting, more anxiety, and a lottt more questions. Because who doesn't love a million unanswered questions? Oh, you don't? Sorry :)

* * *

_"It's all_ _just a_ _theory."_

* * *

Morning came too early. Adelaide couldn't fall asleep until 4 am and her eyes were wide open at 7. After tossing and turning for an hour, she decided to get dressed because she knew wasn't going to get any more sleep. Three hours would have to do. She begrudgingly trotted into the bathroom, not even bothering to look at her reflection. Her dark circles weren't going to help her feel any more awake than she already was. She washed the chlorine out from her hair and when she stepped out of the shower, she noticed the clothes on her bed. It was from Pepper's closet, she concluded when the shirt fell off her shoulder.

For a minute, she just sat there, running her fingers over her scar over and over again. It was pretty faint, but she ironically felt a sense of safety knowing it was there. Sighing, she pulled her sleeve over it.

She left her room, her stomach leading her into the kitchen. Tony was sitting there, one hand holding up his head and the other holding a glass of juice. He was barely awake and didn't notice her come in. Adelaide smirked. She opened the fridge and shut it loudly, making him jolt awake and accidentally spill the glass of juice onto himself. Adelaide laughed quietly.

"I'm guessing the couch wasn't too comfortable?" she asked teasingly. He grumbled something under his breath, standing up.

"You've been waiting to say that since last night, haven't you?" he asked, glaring at her.

"Maybe." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Don't think you've won," he muttered, walking past her in anger. Adelaide laughed after she heard his footsteps fade away down the hall and poured herself a glass of juice. She realized the tv was on and the news were playing.

_"_ _Last night, two officials found a man dead at the local swi-"_

She jumped when she felt someone tap her shoulder, spilling the juice all over herself. The teenager swung around ready to fight him, but he was already down the hall.

"Tony!" she yelled angrily, but all she got was laughter. She looked down at herself; the shirt and pants were both ruined. Adelaide marched back to her room and pulled out the pants and shirt that she was wearing when she came here. Someone must have washed them, she realized. She quickly pulled them on and went back into the kitchen. Tony still wasn't there. He must be taking a shower again. Adelaide laughed to herself. They were even now, she decided.

"Uh, hi."

Adelaide turned around, surprised to see someone sitting on the couch. She narrowed her eyes. She had seen him somewhere before…

"Bruce Banner?" He laughed nervously. For some reason, this girl intimidated him.

"That's me. And I'm guessing you're Adelaide. Happy said I could let myself in. Tony called me yesterday. He said it was an emergency and I flew in from Hong Kong this morning. Judging by your expression, I'm going to guess that he didn't tell you I was coming."

"Of course he didn't," she said, taking a seat across from him, "He's Tony." The two shared a knowing look. Adelaide might not have known Tony for long, but she knew that his mind lived in its own little world and sometimes he forgot that other people existed.

"Adie," Tony said, walking into the room. He was wearing a new shirt and his hair was still dripping wet. "Oh, Banner. You're here. Great. Let's go." Bruce stood up with Adelaide following suit.

"Uh, Tony? What's the emergency?" Bruce asked, looking simultaneously worried and confused. Adelaide had the same question.

"Oh," Tony said, somehow surprised he didn't know, "It's her." He pointed at Adelaide and began walking away. Bruce and Adelaide shared an equally confused look and followed after Tony. He led them to his workplace which Adelaide recognized. She had been here yesterday.

"Jarvis, pull up every detail about light controlling abilities," Tony said to no one in particular. Adelaide looked around the room, confused. Suddenly, a British-accented voice spoke up.

"Doing it now, sir." A hologram appeared over the center of the room, filled with tons of research. There were hundreds of pages filled with research and about a million graphs. Adelaide studied it carefully. She skimmed the pages of experiments and papers written about the results, but the one word that kept popping up in every line was –

"Theory," Bruce said, "They all say theory."

"Exactly," Tony said, walking around the table and coming towards them. Bruce looked baffled.

"Tony, what are you saying? This research proves that controlling light isn't possible. It's all just a theory." Adelaide could see Tony's gears spinning.

"See, that's where you're wrong. It's not just a theory," Tony said, looking excited. Oh no, Adelaide thought. She had to stop this.

"Tony," she said sternly, catching his attention. She ignored Bruce's confused look. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He followed her outside the room, leaving Bruce to study the hologram by himself.

"What are you doing?" Adelaide asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, right before you interrupted, I was just about to prove Banner wrong," he said.

"Exactly! Why are you telling him my secret? I only told you and Pepper because I trust you. I don't even know the guy!"

"Tell me," Tony said, unfazed, "do you want to learn more about your powers or not?"

"I can do that myself!"

"Yeah? And how's that turning out for you? Do you know where you got them from yet? How you got them?" As annoyingly cocky as Tony was being, Adelaide knew he was right. If she was going to find out more about herself, she knew she was going to have to trust other people. She couldn't turn to herself and expect the memories to come flooding back suddenly. The one that she had was bad enough, she had a feeling she might not want to relive all of them. Her best bet was getting help. And as much as she hated it, Tony was right. Maybe she didn't know Bruce Banner personally, but she did remember seeing him on the news. If he could save New York from being destroyed by aliens, then maybe he did have a little good in his heart. And maybe to rest of the Avengers too, but Adelaide decided that that was too many people at once. She didn't think that she would ever meet the rest of the Avengers so that wasn't her immediate problem.

"Earth to Adie," Tony said, snapping his fingers in front of her.

"Fine," she said, "I'll let him help." He grinned, ruffling her hair. She frowned, hurrying to put it back into place again and followed him into the room.

* * *

It was nighttime again and Bruce and Tony still hadn't left the lab. Turns out, after she gave them a small blood sample and a full body scan, they didn't need her. She spent her day testing her powers again and wandering around the penthouse aimlessly. Pepper was out for some business-related work and wouldn't be back until night. Even now, Adelaide still had an hour to kill before she came.

According to Pepper, Adelaide's punishment still stood and she wasn't allowed to leave without her, Tony, or Happy. Pepper wasn't here, Happy had gone with her, and Tony was lost in his own little world where only geniuses were allowed. Apparently, Adelaide didn't count. Walking around the penthouse for the third time got boring and the tv was not helping either. Finally, Tony and Bruce's voice emerged from the stairs. Adelaide let out a sigh of relief.

They were in the middle of a conversation as they wandered towards the couch she was sitting on. The two geniuses didn't even seem to notice that the teenager sitting there.

"From how I see it, Tony, I think you should tell the rest of the team," Bruce said. The team? As in the Avengers? They were going to tell the Avengers? Adelaide had taken two days to trust two of them, how was she going to be able to tell the whole team? Luckily, Tony had her covered.

"Yeah, no. I don't think that's the best idea," he said.

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, she wouldn't want that and two, it's too risky. She's safer staying out of the media and the spotlight."

"If she's not remembering anything, then you're not getting anywhere," Bruce reasoned, "The team has connections everywhere dealing with stuff like this. Powers, strange abilities, that's what they're good at. Even if it's just a small detail, it could help. Even then, it's her decision." He nodded his head towards Adelaide. They both looked at her expectantly. She looked caught off guard.

"What? Do I have to decide right now?" Adelaide asked. Bruce didn't know that she already had a memory. What if she didn't need their help remembering? What if she told them and they were no help? Tony shrugged.

"He makes a point," Tony said, "but you can decide whenever you want. I say we call them here this weekend." Bruce watched the teenager carefully. The girl looked scared and vulnerable, but was doing her best to hide it by acting intimidating. Sure, if he had woken up at Tony's house and couldn't remember anything at all, he'd be a little scared too. Plus, that'd be weird.

"Look, Adelaide, the decision is 100 percent yours, but I've looked at your blood sample and body scan. The chemical composition of your blood and cell structure is unlike anything I've ever seen. One thing I can say for certain is that you weren't born with your powers. They were given to you. For what reason, I'm not sure, but if you can't remember how you used them before you woke up at the Tower, then maybe we need to look into your past. Try and find why you have these abilities," Bruce said. The man looked genuinely concerned about her. "I know you've thought about this too."

She caught his eye. She had thought about this. It was what had kept her up all night. Adelaide wanted answers more than anything and here was a chance to maybe get them. As risky as it was, she'd look at the consequences later. Her mind was set. She took a deep breath before giving her decision.

"You're right," she said, "I'll tell them."

Once again, she had let her curiosity control her.

* * *

Bruce had left after their conversation, and Adelaide was using the tv to distract her mind. It was swarming with questions, as usual. Tony had gone to call the rest of the team to the Tower this weekend and Pepper was supposed to back any minute now. Adelaide's mind wandered back to the memory. Her parents had been worried about her safety. They knew someone was after her. Could it be the man who killed her parents? If he had killed them and didn't kill her, then how was he a threat? It just didn't make sense. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the sofa dip next to her. It was Tony.

"So? Are they coming?" she asked, referring to the team.

To her disappointment or relief, Tony nodded. Adelaide still wasn't sure about this idea, but she still had a few days to get used to it before the weekend came. She hoped this was for the best.

"Most of them are here in New York, but the rest are going to be here in the next couple days." Adelaide nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, are you sure about this?" Tony asked.

"What do I have to lose?" Adelaide shrugged.

"Lose what?" Pepper asked, walking into the room. Adelaide turned around.

"You're back," she said, making room for Pepper next to her. Pepper sat down, looking at Tony and then at Adelaide.

"So what did you two do today?" Pepper asked, noticing their peculiar behavior.

"Oh, so you  _can_  notice the tension? Well, I called Banner over today to look at Adie's situation," he said, standing up and walking into the kitchen.

"Oh really? Well, what did he say?" Pepper asked. Adelaide and Pepper both followed Tony into the kitchen. He was waiting for his coffee, sitting on the island. Adelaide leaned against the countertop while Pepper prepared a cup for herself.

"He thinks we should tell the rest of the team. See if they know anything," Tony said. Pepper glanced at Adelaide.

"What did you tell him?"

"Adie decided that she wanted to tell the team. I called them to come over this weekend." Pepper turned around, grinning widely.

"That's great, Adelaide! I'm sure at least one of them knows something that can help," she said. Adelaide shrugged.

"I hope so." Pepper titled her head to the side, dropping her smile.

"What's wrong?"

"I want to get answers and I'm sure about my decision to tell them – I'm not backing out – but what if they can't help me? What am I supposed to do then?"

"Then," Pepper said, leaning against the countertop across from Adelaide, "we'll look for another way to get answers. Until we find them."

"Worst case scenario," Tony said, shrugging, "you're stuck with us." Adelaide laughed, a good kind of feeling settling into her chest.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just start off by saying I had so much fun writing this chapter. It's the one where Adie will meet the Avengers (finally lol) and I've obviously been dying to get this one out. I'm really excited about it because it reveals a little part of Adie's past and just barely shows all the details. But not too much because we can't leave Adie without questions, of course. It's really fun to be able to get in all the Avenger's heads and write from their point of view cuz they're all low-key crazy and like toddlers sometimes lol. My favorite was Thor.
> 
> So next chapter we might (or might not, depending on how fast I can plan it) see Peter. Probably. Maybe. I don't know. I hope we do because that's why I started writing this fic in the first place lol.

* * *

_"Quit telling people_

_I'm an emergency."_

* * *

After tossing and turning all night, Adelaide had to force herself to get up in the morning. She groaned, rolling out of bed. Today's the day, she thought, where I might get some real damn answers.

It was later than usual and Adelaide decided to go straight to the kitchen. From the hall, she could hear a lot of voices coming from the kitchen, but, barely being awake, she assumed it was just Tony and Pepper talking. She ran her hand through her hair, trying to straighten it and pulled down her shirt to try and look a little put-together. Coffee. She needed coffee.

"Hey Pepper can you – дрисня." She stopped in her tracks, noticing the whole kitchen was full of superheroes or, more specifically, the Avengers. They were all seated around the big island, eating breakfast. Tony and Bruce were deep in discussion about something while Steve and Natasha were playing with one of Clint's arrows. He looked unamused. Thor had invested himself into thoroughly enjoying a pop tart. He was the first to notice her, grinning widely.

"Adelaide!" he said in a booming voice that made everyone turn around and notice the messy-haired girl in her wrinkled pajamas. Adelaide had the sudden urge to run back into her room and change, but it was too late now. She waved awkwardly.

"Uh, hi…" she said, walking towards them. Thor made room for her to sit next to him, putting his hammer in Tony's lap. Tony groaned.

"Really, Thor?" he asked, but Thor either wasn't paying attention or was just ignoring the billionaire.

"Adelaide," Thor said, "you must try these pop tarts. They are absolutely delicious." He handed her the one in his hand, which was almost finished. She smiled.

"Thanks, but I'm more of a coffee person," she said. He shrugged, finishing it off in one bite. A cup of coffee appeared in front of her and Adelaide realize it was Pepper who had put it there.

"Thanks," she said, grateful. Pepper smiled.

"See you tonight," she said, grabbing her purse, "Bye guys! And if you have to fight an alien, then, please, take it outside." A chorus of goodbyes and okays came from the kitchen table as Pepper left.

"So," Natasha said, turning around, a small smile on her face. She looked at Adelaide. "We're not fighting any aliens today, right?"

"Well, no," Tony said, "Unless you count Adie." Adelaide tossed a sugar packet at him, turning back to the redhead.

"No, you won't have to fight any aliens today," Adelaide said to her, mimicking the smile on the assassin's face. Steve snapped his fingers, pretending to look disappointed.

"And I was hoping to kick ass today," he said, making Adelaide laugh. Meeting them in person, she felt like she could trust them.

"Hey, Thor, you know what would be really great right now?" Tony asked.

"More pop tarts?" he said with his mouth full of one. Adelaide had lost track of how many he'd eaten by now. Five? Six?

"I'll give you more if you take your hammer off my lap," he bribed. Thor chuckled.

"No, it's much too entertaining to watch you struggle," the god said, biting into another pop tart. Tony gave turned to Bruce and gave him an exasperated look. Bruce nodded his head, as if telling him to calm down. Adelaide bit back a smile as Tony frowned, looking like a spoiled little boy.

"So what's this arrow do?" Natasha asked Clint, spinning a sleek, black arrow around in her hand. Clint snatched it away.

"It explodes when it hits something," he said, putting it back. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"So why'd you bring it here again?" the super soldier asked. Clint glared at him.

"You never know when there's an emergency," he said. Steve nodded his head sarcastically in agreement.

"Speaking of emergency," Steve said, looking at Tony, "What's the emergency, Stark? You called us to come here as fast as we could."

"Her," the billionaire said, nodding towards Adelaide, "She's the emergency." Everyone looked at her and she threw another sugar packet at his head.

"Quit telling people I'm an emergency," she grumbled.

"So what's your thing, kid?" Clint asked, snatching another arrow back from Natasha. Adelaide caught Tony's eye and he gave her an encouraging wink, still trying to get Thor's hammer off his lap. Adelaide had had enough practice to be able to use her power without thinking now.

She stood up, transforming the whole room to make it seem like they were on the streets of Manhattan. The team looked around, confused. A man walked right through Thor, unaffected. Thor held up his hammer, ready to fight. With a small smirk on her face, Adelaide made the hammer in his hand disappear and reappear in hers, making it seem as if she was holding it. The whole team, especially Thor, eyed her curiously.

One last thing, she decided. Adelaide made an Chitauri alien appear between them and almost immediately, everyone expect for Tony or Bruce switched into a fighting position. Natasha tried to stab it with a knife, but her blade went right through.

Adelaide erased the illusion and they were back at the Tower, sitting around the island. The team scanned the room for any more aliens; they relaxed when they didn't find any.

"I said you won't have to fight any aliens today and you won't," Adelaide said. Clint caught her eye and raised his eyebrow.

"Seriously, what the hell?" he asked.

"I can control light," Adelaide said carefully, "Everything that just happened, it was an illusion. I can even make myself invisible or more images of myself." She caught Bruce's eye and he gave he a thumbs up.

Next to her, Thor was staring at the island, his eyes far away and sad.

"Like my brother," Thor said, "He could shapeshift or make an image of himself."

Adelaide nodded.

"Yeah, kinda like that," she said softly. Tony had told her that Loki had passed away recently and despite the fact that Loki had allowed aliens to invade New York and trash the city, Thor still loved his brother.

"So where did you get this ability from?" Steve asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Adelaide sighed.

"That's the thing," she said, "Five days ago, I woke up here at the Tower and, for some reason, I can't remember anything from my life before that. I'm blank."

"You've been wiped," Natasha said, looking deep in thought, "With powers like that, someone must want you for them. But what I can't understand, is why they would take your memories."

Steve looked at the teenager. Natasha was right. With those powers, she had to have some kind of past. It's not a coincidence she lost her memories and woke up at the Stark Tower, of all places. They were missing something here. Admittedly, Steve couldn't help but be suspicious. Although the teenager looked honest, he'd seen plenty of people who'd do anything for power.

"You can't remember anything at all?" the super soldier asked carefully. Adelaide fiddled with the sugar packet in her hand.

"I did have one memory…" she said, looking at her hands. Everyone looked at her expectantly. She told them everything from the conversation her parents had, the accident, the man with the gun, everything. Steve was thinking hard after the teenager told him her story. Something about that seemed familiar.

"What did you say your father's name was again?" he asked her. She caught his eye.

"Henry. Henry Rivers."

Rivers…the super soldier had heard that somewhere. Suddenly, it hit him. The teenager's story did check out. While he was still in the army, he was good friends with a man named Richard Rivers. Richard was a good, honest man with a clear heart. The two had fought alongside each other many times. Steve remembered meeting Richard's family one day; it was just him, his wife, and their son, Henry Rivers. Henry was a scientist at heart. The super soldier remembered how excited the boy had been when Richard took him to their lab. Steve had never seen anyone so happy. After he had woken up from the ice, he learned that Richard had died a war hero and his son, Henry and his wife had passed away at a terribly young age, yet no one knew how. Although, Steve did know that they were both SHIELD agents. Maybe that had something to do with their death.

"What is it, Steve?" Natasha asked. He realized that he had been glaring hard at Adelaide while thinking. He shook his head, rubbing his face.

"Nothing, it's just…I knew Henry when he was little," he said. Adelaide's face lit up. She couldn't believe her ears. She wanted to hug the super soldier, but she held back.

"You did? Do you know what happened to him?" the teenager asked eagerly. To her disappointment, he shook his head.

"No…I knew his father, Richard Rivers. He fought in the war with me and he was a good man. Richard had taken me to meet his family and that was when I met Henry. He was still a kid at the time, but he loved chemistry and physics more than you could imagine anyone ever loving anything. Richard had brought him to the lab one day and Henry got so happy, he almost didn't leave." Steve laughed quietly at the memory. It was a few days before he had gone into the ice and it was one the few good memories he had in that last week. The super soldier looked at Adelaide. The teenager looked more vulnerable than ever. He gave her a small smile. She really was lost.

"Do you know anything else about him?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The whole room was silent, listening.

"After that, I was in the ice…when I woke up, they told me that Richard had died in the war and Henry and his wife were killed, but no one knew how. At the time, they were both SHILED agents. The big mystery was that Rivers' daughter went missing the night they died and no one had seen her since. I guess, that was you. I don't know if that has anything to do with how they died, but it might help you find some answers," he said. Adelaide watched the super soldier with sad eyes. He looked tired. Fighting for his country, he had lost everyone he knew. The world he lived in, it was completely gone when he woke up. Everything he knew, gone. And yet, he was here and he was making the most of it.

"Thank you," Adelaide said quietly. There was no way she could express how grateful she was for him at the moment. He had helped her find answers. Real answers. Thanks to him, she might actually be able to find the whole truth.

"So you're telling me that this kid has been missing for who knows how long and then she turns up at the Tower five days ago with no memory of anything?" Clint asked. He let out a low whistle. "That's rough."

"See? I'm telling you, it just spells out alien," Tony said, sipping his coffee. Adelaide tossed another sugar packet at his head.

"Leave your hammer in his lap as a punishment," she told Thor. He grinned, looking as if he was seriously considering it.

"Any more sugar and Stark's gonna be bouncing off the walls," Steve said, leaning back his chair with a smirk. Tony gave him a look.

"Hilarious, Captain," he remarked. Adelaide noticed Natasha rolling her eyes.

"Do you remember what the man who killed your parents looked like?" the assassin asked. Adelaide shook her head.

"No, not really. It was too dark. All I know is that he had black hair and he was kind of pale. I doubt that'll help," she said.

"I don't think we can identify him with just that much information," Bruce said, shaking his head. The team seemed to agree.

"If your parents were Shield agents, then we can look into some archives to find out more information," Natasha said. Steve nodded his head.

"We can talk to Fury," he said.

"I'll call him," Tony said, pulling out his phone and putting it on speaker. Everyone watched him struggle, amused. It took him longer than usual with the hammer on his lap and he gave Thor a side glare. Thor winked at Adelaide, a grin on his face. Adelaide returned the smile. Sure, they were a strange bunch, but they were a good strange bunch. They got things done.

"This better be important, Stark," Fury said, picking up. He sounded like he was somewhere windy.

"We need you to look for Henry and Ava Rivers in your archives," Tony said. There was some shuffling on Fury's end and then the sound of a door closing. It was much quieter now, the howling of the wind gone.

"We?" Fury asked. Adelaide could hear other people talking in the background.

"We, the Avengers…and Henry's daughter." They heard some footsteps and then the background voices got louder. It sounded like a workplace.

"Get me the files for Agent Henry and Ava Rivers," they heard Fury tell someone. Adelaide caught Tony's eye and he looked at the hammer in his lap and then back at her. She smiled sheepishly, shrugging.

"Sir, their files are empty," another voice said. She felt her stomach drop and the smile from her face vanished. Another dead end.

"Empty? What do you mean empty? Let me see that," Fury said.

"There's nothing there, just their names." The Avengers all shared a look. Something was wrong here. SHIELD was protected with top notch security and the world's best agents. How could something go missing?

"Well I'll be damned," Fury said, "It really is empty." Adelaide closed her eyes. So close. They were so close. But they still didn't get the answers – just more questions.

"Sorry, Stark," Fury said, "I've got nothing here." Tony nodded, looking deep in thought. Adelaide could almost see the gears in his head spinning.

"Thanks Fury," Tony said, ending the call. Steve looked at the teenager and then at Natasha. The assassin gave him a curious look. They were both thinking the same thing. Something just didn't add up here. It wasn't just a coincidence that their files were empty. And with the powers Adelaide had…yeah, they were definitely missing something.

"Someone doesn't want us to know the truth," Steve said. Bruce nodded.

"But why? Why go so many lengths to hide it?" Bruce asked.

"Because it's something big," Tony said, still looking deep in thought, "If someone is willing to break into the SHIELD archives just to cover their tracks, then it's gotta be something big."

Adelaide felt like her head was about to explode. Why would someone do that? What was so important? And what did it have to do with her? She knew looking into her past would just bring more headaches, but now she was left with even more questions than what she began with and an even bigger headache than she expected.

"It's gotta do with the time she went missing," Clint said, "That's the only part we don't know." Steve caught the teenager's eye.

"You can't remember anything? What happened after that night?" he asked, "What about that man?" Adelaide shook her head, feeling useless.

"I don't remember a thing. I don't even know how I remember that night in the first place," she answered. Everyone slumped back in their seats. There were just going in circles. It was pointless. They were silent for a while until Adelaide spoke up.

"Now what?" The question lingered in the air, creating more confusion and more tension.

"We keep looking," Tony said after a while. Adelaide looked at him.

"Looking where? Everything we look into is a dead end," she said. Bruce looked the teenager.

"He's right," Bruce said, "You've gotta keep looking, Adelaide. You'll find something eventually."

"Yeah, no one can cover their tracks that good," Steve said, "We'll find something."

Adelaide hoped they were right. She had a feeling they weren't going to find anything unless that man wanted them to. He was the reason behind all of this. The teenager suspected he took her memories and now he was being extra careful to cover his tracks. Why he was going through all this trouble, Adelaide didn't know. She suspected it had to do with the part of her past that she couldn't remember. The night after her parents were killed. Whoever he was, Adelaide would find him and she wouldn't rest until she did.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ
> 
> I have been planning like a million plot points like a madwoman and it's taken ages trying to straighten everything out. The notes app in my phone is so full. I can literally tell you where every character in the MCU was during each movie and now I don't have any room in my head for anything else. Just MCU. Oh, and Tom Holland daydreams. 
> 
> Adelaide's birthday is in August and in this specific chapter it's February and she's going to the last few months of 8th grade which means she's gonna be 13 years old. Okay now I'm going to layout the whole timeline just so we're on the same page. Also, just note that this story started on January 1, 2014.
> 
> The Avengers happens in 2012
> 
> Iron Man 3 happens in 2013
> 
> Captain America: The Winter Soldier happens in January 2014 (So this chapter is set just after it, though it's really just happening in the background)
> 
> Age of Ultron happens in March 2015 (freshman year)
> 
> Peter becomes Spider-Man happens in December 2016 (freshman year)
> 
> Civil War happens in June 2016 (sophomore year)
> 
> Spider-Man: Homecoming happens in September 2016 (sophomore year)
> 
> And I still need to find out about Infinity War but that's still a long ways away so we're good for now.
> 
> So this is kinda what my notes app looks like right about now. Add a million asterisks and side notes and you get the picture. I know that this probably seems messy and disorganized, but I've decided to make this fic something I make up as I go because I've noticed that when I try to plan a story before I write it, I end up giving up on it because I lose interest. And I definitely don't want to stop writing this story because I'm 100% here for it. I'll have this all organized, I promise, but until then, thank you for sticking with me through all this mess. This story means a lot to me and I'm going to make sure it's perfect.
> 
> This chapter is the longest chapter yet and a lot of things happen. For one, Peter meets Adie. We get to see some new characters like Ned, Flash, and Michelle. Oh and we get to see Happy again because we haven't seen him in a while now. With Peter and Adie's relationship, I tried to make them become friends instantly, but this is Peter before he was bitten so his ego is kinda deflated. Although, until he does get bitten, I do want to put some more tension between the two because I don't want them to get together without any problems, of course. After Peter gets bitten, then we'll see a lotttt more tension.

_"The money she gets from_

_selling the drugs helps_

_her pay off her teachers_

_t_ _o expel her."_

* * *

_ONE MONTH LATER_

"Tony."

"No."

"It's been a month!" Pepper argued.

"I don't care. I'm not sending her to that prison." Pepper sighed. She rubbed her forehead, as if she were rubbing away an impending headache.

"It's not a prison and you know it. Don't make it sound so negative," she said. The billionaire looked unaffected, staring at the tv. Pepper glanced at the tv and snatched the remote from her boyfriend's hand, switching it off. He stubbornly continued to stare at it.

"Look, Tony," she started, "we've been searching for answers for a whole month now. And I'm not saying that we should stop looking, but she's still only 13. She can't just stay with us in the Tower for the rest of her life. She needs to be her own person." The billionaire sighed, rubbing his face.

"If we tell her she has to go to school, she'll run away." Pepper held back a smile.

"She's not going to run away."

"I would."

"Tony, I'm being serious. She needs friends and an education." Tony sighed again, tossing his head back onto the couch. He turned to look at his girlfriend with an accusing glare.

"If she runs away, I'm blaming you," he said. Pepper smiled.

"You can blame me," she agreed.

"And I get to take you out tomorrow night," he demanded.

"And you get to take me out tomorrow night." She searched his face. "Anything else?"

"An espresso," he grinned. She stood up, tossing the remote back to him.

"Get it yourself," she said, smiling before walking away. Tony turned around after she left and switched the tv on again, but his mind was wandering. He didn't want to send Adie to school. In this past month, she hadn't left his sight even once. With the powers she had and her past, the billionaire was sure sending her to school would be the worst idea yet. Someone was after her and he wasn't going to send the teenager straight into his hands. Even then, Pepper was right. Adie still was a teenager and she couldn't spend her life in the security of the Tower. She needed to make friends and be her own person. Tony sighed. He knew he was going to regret this.

* * *

"I'm not going to school."

Tony gave Pepper a look. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you are," she said, "You're still just a teenager." Adelaide didn't look convinced.

"But I'm not just a teenager," she said, putting emphasis on 'just a teenager,' "You know I'm more complicated than that."

"Yes Adelaide, I do know but it's been a whole month and we haven't even found so much as a clue. I'm not telling you to stop looking, but while we are, you have to go to school. You need an education. You need to make friends your age"

"I don't want to go to school. It's like a prison. A few hundred hormonal teenagers forced to go to leave their room and learn stuff they couldn't care less about? I'm not going." Tony gave his girlfriend a triumphant look. Pepper sighed. She didn't think that forcing a teenager to go to school could be so hard.

At the same time, Adelaide and Pepper both said, "Tony, tell her."

The billionaire looked as if he wanted to teleport out of the room. Pepper glared at Tony and he immediately cleared his throat.

"You're going to school starting Monday," Tony said. Adelaide narrowed her eyes.

"I can't believe you're on her side!" the teenager complained. He shook his head.

"Me neither," he mumbled underneath his breath.

"Tony," Pepper said accusingly. He sighed.

"Sorry kid, but you're going to school. We already registered you." Adelaide groaned loudly. The last place she wanted to be was school. It would confine her into a building for 7 hours of the day 5 days a week. That meant less time to search for answers. Even though she hadn't been able to find any answers in the past month, that didn't mean going to school was going to make it any better. If anything, it would take even longer. After talking with the Avengers, she was certain there was someone after her and going to school would only raise the chances of being caught. She felt safe in the Tower; she didn't want to leave, but she knew Pepper and Tony would be just as stubborn as she was.

"Which school is it?" she asked begrudgingly. Pepper was quick to answer, knowing they were finally getting to the teenager.

"Midtown Middle."

"Where is that?" Adelaide asked, sounded unenthused.

"Queens. Not too far from here. Happy has agreed to take you there everyday."

"It's a school for geniuses," Tony said, failing to sound excited about it. Adelaide sighed. Pepper watched the teenager.

"So you'll go?"

"Do I have a choice?" Pepper pretended to think about it, smiling.

"No," she said, getting up. She ruffled the teenager's brown hair. "You're going to love it."

"No, I'm not," she grumbled under her breath. She glared at Tony, but he just shrugged. She was going to hate school.

* * *

Adelaide studied the raindrops on the car window, as if trying to find answers in them. She sighed, turning away and leaning her head back against the seat.

In this past month, she had gone crazy trying to find out what had happened after that night. Sure, Tony and Pepper had helped, but when the caffeine in their system ran out at 2 in the morning, Adelaide was the one who stayed up and kept searching. There were days when she hadn't slept for longer than a half hour nap in the afternoon to avoid falling asleep in front of the computer again. Whoever was after her, covered his tracks so well, Adelaide wouldn't believe Henry and Ava even existed if it weren't for her memory. After her first memory, she hadn't had another one since.

The lack of answers had made her become frustrated with everything. She was easily angered. There were times when she ended up yelling at Tony just because the internet was slow or her coffee wasn't sweet enough. Although Tony understood, she immediately regretted lashing out. Pepper and Tony both knew she was getting restless, but there was nothing they could to do help it. Deep down, she knew she needed to step back from her mad search for a while. And although she'd never admit it to Tony and Pepper, school was just the perfect distraction.

There was a part of her who just wanted to give up the search all together, but then she saw that gun pressed against her father's head again and then she'd want nothing more than to give that bastard what he deserved. She was going to make him pay for what he did. If only she could find him…

Adelaide sighed again, closing her eyes.

"Aaand we're here," Happy said, making Adelaide look outside. Midtown Middle already looked boring.

Happy turned around, looking more energetic than she had felt in weeks.

"I'll be here to pick you up at 3," he said. Adelaide nodded. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't get in trouble on your first day. Oh, and try not to yell at your teachers."

Adelaide smiled.

"I'll try my best," she said, opening the door and stepping out after grabbing her backpack. Tony had given her an Iron man keychain to put on it and she had made him sign it just for the heck of it. She closed the door behind her and waved goodbye at Happy through the window. She stood there until the car was gone and then turned around after taking a deep breath. She had survived a car accident and a madman when she was five years old, she could survive school.

Taking another deep breath, she hitched her backpack higher up on her shoulder and stepped into the crowd of kids entering the school. Everyone knew where they were going except for her. She was wandering the halls, trying to find her first period class, English. Adelaide wanted to ask someone, but she didn't want anyone to know she was lost. Especially because she was starting in the middle of the year.

"God, I hate going to English with Mrs. Goodall first thing in the morning," she heard someone say. She turned around to find who said that. It was a brown-haired girl wearing sweats and a hoodie. She really looked like she didn't like going to school at all. Adelaide sighed and followed her to English, relieved she wouldn't have to be lost. The class was on the second floor and not too far from the stairs. Walking inside, Adelaide found that the class was already full and there was only one seat left. It was in the back next to…a book? Getting closer, she realized that it was a curly-haired girl with her nose in a book. She didn't even seem to realize that someone had sat next to her.

Good, Adelaide thought, the less attention the better.

Mrs. Goodall was a young-looking, middle-aged woman with short blonde hair and a permanent smile etched onto her face. Adelaide couldn't tell if it was fake or real, but then decided that she didn't care. She didn't even want to be here in the first place. Mrs. Goodall clapped her hands and the chatter quieted down.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. We have a new student in our class today," she said, making eye contact with Adelaide. She didn't smile.

"If you would please introduce yourself," she said, her smile beginning to look taunting. Adelaide let out a heavy sigh as she stood up. So much for no attention.

"I'm Adelaide Rivers and I'm new to New York," she said, internally cringing. Why did she make her do this again? She sat down again quickly, avoiding any eye contact. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to snatch the book from the girl next to her and hide behind it. From the corner of her eye, she could see the girl looking at her from above her book. Adelaide looked away, fiddling with her hoodie strings.

"Welcome to the class, Miss Rivers. Now, everyone take out your homework and lay it on your desk. I will come by and pick it up. Make sure your name…" Adelaide tuned her out and looked out the window. It was raining again and JARVIS had told her that it was even supposed to snow later today. It was only February and this was New York, after all. Adelaide could see the curly-haired girl staring at her again and Adelaide bit her tongue and turned away. She tried paying attention to what Mrs. Goodall was saying, but her mind continued to drift. In this past month, she'd had covered all the possible suspects with Tony and Pepper, but everyone they looked into wasn't guilty. It was almost as if someone had left fake trails for them to follow so they would stay busy. It was so goddamn frustrating. Sometimes, she wanted to rip his hair out and make him feel the pain she'd felt.

Adelaide noticed the girl staring at her again. She turned around, deciding to confront her.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" The girl shrugged, unaffected by the question.

"Dunno. Take a guess." Adelaide studied her carefully. She genuinely didn't think the girl was worried she was caught staring. Her attitude just screamed nonchalant. Adelaide decided to go with it. This was more amusing than Mrs. Goodall's lecture about sentence fragments.

"I don't know," she said, "Humor me." The girl's face was void of any emotion.

"You're interesting to look at."

"How so?"

"I don't know. Not anymore," she said, turning her nose back into her book. Adelaide sighed, leaning back in her chair. Mrs. Goodall was handing out their homework for tonight with the permanent smile on her face. This was going to be a long first day.

* * *

It was PE time and it was Peter Parker's least favorite thing in the world. He was always humiliated in that class. And the coaches were ruthless. Parker, run faster. Parker, no resting. Parker, my grandma walks faster than you run. Peter sighed, pushing open the gym doors and walking inside. He went straight to the locker room to change and that's where his best friend Ned Leeds was waiting. He was already dressed and tying his shoes.

"Hey, Ned."

"Oh, hey Peter. I heard Ross is going to make us sprint today." Just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse. This morning, he was called out by two teachers for nodding off in class. It wasn't his fault that the Star Wars special was on late last night. He yawned while opening his locker.

After he had changed, the two of them left the locker room and waited in the gym for Coach Ross. Peter noticed a group of boys making a ruckus on the other side of the gym. Flash Thompson was in the middle of it, being the most popular. Peter didn't like him. He was constantly pestering and humiliating him in front of everyone. Peter didn't know what he'd done to make Flash hate him, but he wanted nothing more than to humiliate him once in front of the school. Although, he'd have to find the courage to stand up to him in the first place.

"Alright everyone, get in line," Coach Ross said after blowing his whistle. Peter and Ned shared a look. They both really hated it when they had to sprint. It never ended well.

"Today, you guys are going to sprint. I see anyone running slow or jogging, they're doing 100 squats. Understood?" he asked, looking directly at Peter. He looked away. He hated gym.

"I don't think Parker heard you, Coach," Flash said, snickering. Peter tried not to glare at him.

"Alright, alright. That's enough, Flash. Whether he heard me or not, we all know Parker's doing a 100 squats today," Ross said, making everyone laugh. Ned nudged him, trying to tell him to stay quiet. Peter could feel his face getting red from anger, but he bit his tongue, knowing that saying anything would just make matters worse. He'd suffered this humiliation since the day he met Flash Thompson, he could survive one more day. He was used to it by now.

They all began running around the gym and he and Ned were at the very back, running as fast as they could.

"Have you heard about the new girl in school?" Ned asked, breathless. Peter shook his head. Ned was seemingly bursting with excitement.

"I heard that she's been expelled from 28 schools and now her parents are forcing her to come here, but, catch this," he said, taking a deep breath, "no one knows why she's been expelled so many times. Some people say it's because…because she has a drinking problem, but I think she pays the teachers to expel her so she…she doesn't have to go," Ned said. Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Really?" he asked. Ned shrugged, breathing through his mouth.

"That's…That's what they say. I think it's a genius way to avoid school."

"Why would someone want to get expelled?" Peter asked, still not understanding. Ben and May would kill him if he was expelled.

"I don't know. So they…they wouldn't have to go to school?" He said it like it was obvious. Peter raised an eyebrow. School wasn't the best thing in the world, but he'd never want to get expelled on purpose. He'd be stupid if he did.

"Parker! Move your tiny legs faster!" Ross yelled. Peter groaned and picked up the pace. He was going to be so tired today. It seemed like forever before Ross told them to stop and Peter's legs felt like they were liquid.

"Coach, I think Parker needs to do a 100 squats," Flash said, smirking at Peter. Somehow, he wasn't out of breath.

"You're right, Flash, but class is over. Parker, remind me tomorrow. You're due a 100 squats." Peter nodded reluctantly. He hoped Ross would forget, but he knew that Flash wouldn't. He'd have to do a 100 squats tomorrow whether he wanted to or not.

After the nightmare of PE was over, it was lunchtime. He and Ned sat down together, as far away from Flash as they could.

"…and the new girl has a tattoo behind her ear. It's a gang symbol that she's secretly a part of. And, I heard the gang is really famous in New York. The money she gets from selling the drugs helps her pay off her teachers to expel her," Ned said.

"She has a tattoo? But she's not even 18!" Peter exclaimed. Ned shook his head gravely.

"Exactly. She sounds scary," Ned said. Peter shrugged.

"I think she sounds kinda cool."

"Trust me, Peter, you don't wanna be any part of this. Gangs can be dangerous."

"Will you two stop it already?" Michelle said from the corner. She was sitting at the farthest end of their table, looking as if they had just woken her up. Which, they probably had. "She's not part of a gang and she doesn't have a tattoo. I checked."

"Woah," said Ned in awe, "You know her?" Michelle shrugged. She looked rather annoyed, but answered the question anyway.

"She's in my first period English. She's pretty boring, if you ask me." Peter opened his mouth to ask a question, but Ned started shaking his arm.

"Look! It's her!" The three of them all turned their heads to watch the brown-haired girl walk into the cafeteria. She didn't look intimidating at all. In fact, she looked lost. All the tables were full and she didn't have any place to sit.

"Maybe acting innocent is her disguise," Ned said next to Peter, but Peter was too busy watching her. He'd caught sight of her impossibly blue eyes and he couldn't seem to look away. She was obviously lost, yet she didn't look helpless – she had control of the situation. She scanned the room, momentarily glancing at Peter. In that moment, he couldn't help but feel his heartbeat speed up. He had the sudden urge to go up to her, but then she turned away. He blinked. He had been staring at her for a whole minute now. Peter realized that Ned was talking to him, but he was still watching the girl.

"Peter, did you hear anything I just said?" Ned asked. Peter blinked again, tearing his eyes away.

"Wha – uh, yeah. I heard what you said," he lied. He hadn't even realized his friend was talking.

"Right," Ned said suspiciously, "Anyway, did you see the tattoo behind her ear?" He hadn't been able to look past her eyes.

"Um, no." Ned sighed.

"Yeah, me neither…maybe she covered it up with makeup or maybe…" He tuned Ned out as he watched her turn around. She was coming here, he realized, and she was looking right at him. He tried to act as if he hadn't been watching her for the past two minutes, studying his tray. He waited for her to sit down in front of him, but when she didn't, he looked up, searching the room for her. Ned elbowed him, pointing towards Michelle. She sat down in front of Michelle and poked at the food on her plate. She looked tired, but her blue eyes were constantly darting everywhere, studying everything.

Michelle looked up from her nap, glancing at the girl and then going back to sleeping.

"So you're not going to stare at me again?" she asked Michelle. Michelle shrugged, her head still down.

"Ask them," Michelle said, pointing at him and Ned, "they've been staring at you since you walked in." Peter and Ned shared a panicked look. The girl looked at them curiously, her eyebrows furrowed. Her blue eyes looked even better up close.

Peter nudged Ned, silently telling him to say something.

"No, uh…we weren't, uh…I…Do you really have a tattoo behind your ear?" Ned stuttered. Peter refrained himself from facepalming. That was all he could think of? She was going to think they were weird, just like the rest of the school did.

"A tattoo?" she asked, "Pepp – I mean, my aunt would kill me if I got a tattoo." Peter found himself breathing again. She didn't think they were weird. That was good. Not that he cared too much about what she thought. Ned's happiness deflated.

"So you're not part of a gang? And you don't pay teachers to expel you?" Ned asked. The girl looked baffled.

"Is that what everyone's been saying about me?" Ned shrugged, but then nodded. "They're making me sound way cooler than I actually am."

"Well," Ned said, "I guess you're not that intimidating anymore." She shrugged.

"Sorry to disappoint." Little did they know, she was way cooler than any of the things that Ned said.

"I'm Ned," his friend said, smiling. She gave him a small smile.

"I'm Adelaide," she said, looking at Peter. He realized he hadn't said anything since she had sat here.

"I'm Peter," he said, "By the way, I didn't think that you were part of a gang." Adelaide tilted her head to the side.

"Why not?" He shrugged.

"You don't look like you'd be part of a gang." She nodded.

"Fair enough."

"And besides, I don't – is that a keychain signed by Mr. Stark?!" Peter yelled, noticing the scribble on her red and yellow keychain hanging from her backpack. She looked at it, picking it up in her hand.

"Uh, yeah," she answered.

"Woah! That's so cool! When did you get it signed?!" he asked, dropping all the formalities. This was Mr. Stark they were talking about here. She hesitated, thinking of an excuse.

"I – uh, this morning, actually." He made eye contact with Ned and the two of them jumped up in their seats.

"This morning! You met Mr. Stark this morning?!" This was definitely way, way cooler than being part of a gang.

"Well, no," she answered, "My, uh, uncle got it signed for me."

"Your uncle is friends with Mr. Stark?!" Peter couldn't believe his ears. He knew someone who knew someone who knew Mr. Stark. This was the greatest day of his life.

"No – actually, yes. Yes. Yeah, he's uh, good friends with him."

"No way!" Peter exclaimed, "You know Mr. Stark! That's so freaking cool!" Adelaide shrugged, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Peter's mind was working at a mile a minute.

"Can I get a signed one too? Please, please, pretty" he asked. He had to get a signed Iron Man keychain. At the moment, he wanted nothing more. He realized how desperate he sounded and he cleared his throat, trying to look composed.

"Sure," Adelaide said, making Peter light up with happiness, "I'll tell my uncle today." Peter leaned back in his seat, beaming. This definitely beat being in a gang.

From the corner of his vision, he noticed Flash approaching their table. Oh no, Peter thought, the smile from his face vanishing. He shared a worried look with Ned. Not so surprisingly, Flash was here to talk to Adelaide.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" he asked her. She looked surprised, but shook her head. Peter tried to silently warn her, but she didn't notice.

"I'm Flash, by the way," he said, putting his elbow on the table. He subtly kicked Peter under the table.

"Ow!" he whispered to himself. He had to find a way to get rid of him before he brainwashed Adelaide. Adelaide looked confused that he was talking to her, but she nodded just to be polite. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"I'm Adelaide," she said.

"So you're new here? I've heard a lot about you," Flash said, continuing to shamelessly flirt. Peter wanted to gag. Maybe he didn't know how to flirt, but at least he didn't do this.

"That I'm part of a gang and I pay teachers to expel me so I don't have to go to school? And you believe it?" she asked. Flash looked taken aback.

"N-No, of course not." She smirked, glancing at Peter. He realized that she was playing along and having fun messing with him.

"Then what did you hear about me, Flash?" A look of panic crossed his face as he tried to come up with something else quickly.

"I heard that you like boys whose name starts with f," he said, looking smug. Peter bit his lip, trying not to laugh. Michelle looked up from her nap, groggy.

"Isn't your name Eugene?" she asked. Flash glared at her, getting angry, but Michelle went back to sleep. Adelaide tried to hold back a laugh, pulling her lips in.

"Eugene?" she asked, "I'm sorry, Flash, but I don't like boys whose names start with f or e."

Flash stood up in anger, shaking the table.

"Fine," he spat, "we'll see how that turns out for you." He glared at Peter. "This is all your fault, Parker," he said. He turned to Adelaide again.

"Trust me," Flash said through gritted teeth, "you don't wanna hang out with these losers." He glared at Peter again before marching away in anger. Adelaide bursted out laughing.

"He really thinks I'd go out with a guy who uses that pickup line? God, I can't believe his ego," she said, her laughter finally dying down. Peter found himself smiling, too. It was the first time that he'd ever smiled after a taunting from Flash and it felt kind of nice.

* * *

After school, Adelaide waited for Happy on the sidewalk, checking her phone every two minutes. Happy had texted her saying he'd be a couple minutes late because of traffic. She wanted to get out of this prison as fast as she could. She noticed Peter walking up to her.

"Hey Peter," she said.

"Hey," he said, coming to stand next to her. She stuffed her hands in her coat pocket, pulling her coat closer. It was starting to get colder as the sun went down.

"I realized that I forgot to say thank you for agreeing to get me the keychain, so, um, thank you," he said. She couldn't tell if his cheeks were turning pink from the cold or he was blushing. She smiled.

"Don't worry about it. My uncle will get you one by tomorrow," she told him. He smiled brightly.

"So are you new to New York?" he asked after a while. Adelaide nodded.

"I moved in with my aunt and uncle about a month ago," she said. Little does he know, she thought. He nodded.

"Cool. I live with my aunt and uncle, too. My house isn't that far from here."

"What about your parents?" she asked. He looked away, the glow on his face disappearing.

"They died in a plane crash when I was little. I've been living with my Aunt May and Uncle Ben ever since."

"Peter, I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Adelaide cursed at herself. She could be so stupid sometimes. Peter was in a great mood after she promised him the keychain and now she ruined it by asking about his parents. She felt terrible.

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving his hand, "I don't remember them too well." Adelaide sighed quietly, looking away. She had reminded him of things he wanted to forget. Way to go.

"I don't remember my parents too well either," she said after a while, staring at her feet, "They died in a…a car accident when I was 5."

"I'm sorry," he said. They silently watched the car pass by them on the streets, their mind wandering. Adelaide wondered what her life would've been like had her parents still been alive. At least she wouldn't be swarming in this confusion. Maybe they'd be living in a small house in Queens and she'd still wind up in Midtown Middle, talking to Peter on the sidewalk today. She wanted her life to be normal, but, instead, it was anything but.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Peter asked after a while, as if reading her mind. Adelaide assumed he'd been imagining the same thing she had. She looked at him, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, it does," she said. Peter returned her smile, stuffing his hands in his pockets. For a moment, everything quieted down and it was only the two of them. Suddenly, a white dot fell onto Peter's nose. Without realizing it, Adelaide tapped his nose, laughing.

"It's snowing!" she said, making him look up. It was slow, but it was there. He laughed, catching a flake on his tongue. A car honked, pulling the teenagers out of their thoughts. Adelaide turned around, noticing the familiar black car parked by the sidewalk.

"I gotta go," she told him, "See you tomorrow."

"See you." She turned around and opened the back door, letting herself in. Happy pulled back onto the road.

"Hey kid. How was the first day?" Happy asked. She groaned, tossing her head back. She watched the snowfall as they drove.

"I already have homework, I made an enemy, and I need Tony to sign another keychain." Happy glanced at her through the mirror.

"I'm not even gonna ask," he said, making her laugh. If it weren't for Peter, Ned, and maybe even Michelle, her first day would've really sucked. She could count on Flash Thompson to make her second day miserable even if she steered clear of him. Then again, it could've been a worse.

* * *

Adelaide walked into the penthouse, dropping her backpack on the couch. She turned on the tv and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. In this past month, she had become addicted to dark chocolate even though it wasn't considered real food, according to Pepper. In the living room, the tv channel switched from a reality tv show to depressing news. She popped her head out of the kitchen and realized Tony had changed the channel.

"I was gonna watch that," she said, plopping down next to him with a box of chocolates. He tried to grab a piece, but she flicked his hand away. He frowned, but then shrugged it off.

"So how was school?" he asked.

"Well, I met this guy who saw my keychain and now he thinks that my uncle is good friends with Tony Stark so I promised I'd get him a signed one tomorrow," she said, biting into a chocolate. Tony laughed.

"Poor kid," he said, stealing a chocolate from her. "You're killing him." She frowned, pulling the box away from him.

"It's not like I was gonna tell him that I live with Tony Stark. I don't want that much attention."

"Yeah, right you don't," he scoffed. She smacked his arm. Sometimes, he acted even younger than she did. Adelaide couldn't tell if Pepper had left Tony to babysit her, or her to babysit him. Deep down, she enjoyed their little arguments. They were strangely endearing. She stole the remote from his hand and switched it back to her show. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Don't you have homework to do?" he asked her. She nodded, watching the tv.

"I'll do it later."

"Okay." She glanced at him.

"You're terrible at disciplining."

"I know." She smiled, biting into another , she was definitely babysitting him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have something perfect planned for this story all thanks to my best friend who decided to help my poor soul out of misery. The idea she gave me is really perfect and I can't wait until I get there. In short, I started writing this chapter even though I had no idea where it was going, but, by the end of it, I finally figured it out.
> 
> After the super-long and descriptive A/N in the last chapter, I hope we're on the same page now. So right now, it's February 2014 and all the way until March 2015, it's going to be some original stuff. I just realized how much that is and how little I have planned. Yikes. Don't worry about it though, I will work everything out. Then March marks the start of Age of Ultron and then things get a lott more heated after that.

 

* * *

 _"I don't like_ _Tony Stark."_

* * *

Adelaide pushed open the cafeteria doors, walking inside. She realized Peter, Ned, and Michelle were already sitting at the table and she walked over there after getting her lunch. She put her tray down on the table, making Peter and Ned look up from whatever they were doing. Michelle was napping again today, sitting against the wall.

"What's that?" she asked. Peter grinned, pushing his glasses up.

"It's the new Star Wars figurines. They just came out yesterday," he said, showing her. They looked like little dolls to her.

"Right, um, anyway, I got the keychain," she said, digging into her backpack. "I actually got one for each of you. I guess Tony was autograph happy yesterday." She quietly laughed to herself, pulling out the keychains. Peter was ecstatic when she handed him the keychain. He was actually holding something that Mr. Stark had touched. And he had signed it. Peter was off the walls. He'd never been more proud of anything. Mr. Stark was his idol, he looked up to him. Peter clipped the keychain with his keys, grinning. He was never taking it off.

"Thanks, Adelaide. Tell your uncle to tell Mr. Stark I said thank you." Adelaide hesitated, dropping her smile. Peter looked genuinely grateful for the keychain; she didn't want to lie to him, it made her feel guilty. She looked into his honest brown eyes. Peter didn't look like he'd tell anyone her secret if she told him, but then again…she shook her head. She wasn't going to tell him. It wasn't safe and she didn't know if she could trust him. After all, she only met him yesterday. She forced a smile.

"Sure."

"This is amazing!" Ned said, clipping the keychain onto his backpack. "Thanks Adelaide! Can you tell thanks to Mr. Stark from me too?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, pulling out another keychain. Peter looked at the keychain.

"Who's that for?" Ned asked as Adelaide stood up.

"Michelle." Hearing her name, the curly-haired girl looked up from her nap. She studied the three of them with narrowed eyes.

"Are you guys talking about me now? I don't have a tattoo behind my ear," she said. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"No, I was saying that this is for you. My uncle got it signed yesterday," she told her. Michelle took it from her hand, inspecting it like it was broken.

"I don't like Tony Stark." Peter felt his mouth falling open. How did someone dislike Mr. Stark? There…There was nothing to dislike! "You can keep it," Michelle said, going back to napping. Adelaide shrugged, putting it in her pocket. She sat back down in front of Peter and Ned who were both staring at Michelle with their mouths hanging open. Adelaide snapped her fingers in front of them, and they blinked out of it.

"How can she  _not like Mr. Stark_?" Peter asked, still processing the information. Adelaide tried not to laugh.

"I mean," she started, "there's a lot of things to not like. For one, he's so cocky." Peter looked offended.

"No he's not! He's just very…"

"Cocky?"

"No! He's just comfortable around people, that's all." Adelaide sat back, rolling her eyes. Tony was cocky and there was no question about it. Just the other day, she heard him complimenting himself in his lab. Peter sighed.

"Anyway," he said, "tell your uncle I said thank you, too." Adelaide nodded, feeling the guilt again. She pushed it away. She shouldn't trust him just yet.

"Hey," Ned said, looking up from the keychain, "how does your uncle know Iron Man anyways?" Adelaide's brain rushed to think of an excuse.

"He…um, he's a business partner. You know, they work together and stuff."

"Who is your uncle?" Peter asked. Maybe he'd heard of him before on the news or something. Adelaide groaned internally. All this lying was proving to be difficult and a big headache.

"Um, he's...Timothy…Lark. Yeah, Timothy Lark," she lied. Peter had never heard that name before. Maybe he was new to the business, he thought.

"Yeah, they've been friends for a long time," Adelaide added. She was just rambling now, trying to cover her first lie. But Peter grew more confused. Surely, if they've been friends for a long time, he would've seen him somewhere. He never missed anything related to Mr. Stark. Peter studied Adelaide and he caught sight of her blue eyes again. Maybe Timothy Lark had been on the news, but it had just slipped past his attention.

"Cool," Ned said, pulling Peter out of his thoughts, "Tell him I said thank you, too." Adelaide nodded, feeling relieved. They bought her lies. Suddenly, the bell rang, meaning it was time to head to class. The three teenagers dumped their trays into the trash and left the cafeteria together. As they were walking past the lockers, Flash Thompson appeared in front of them, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Hey Parker, have you told Adelaide about how you couldn't do more than 20 squats in gym today? Or were you too embarrassed?" Peter felt his face flaming red. He wanted to tell Flash it was because his friends had been sitting on him. He'd gotten enough humiliation during gym, he didn't want to relive it again. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Are you always this basic with your insults, or are you saving the best ones for later?" Adelaide asked. Maybe Flash wasn't bullying her, but he was still being annoying. Flash didn't look surprised at Adelaide's retort. After yesterday, he had figured out that she didn't like him very much yet, but he was going to change that.

"Aw, would you look at that. Parker's got a girlfriend," he sang, "I don't know why'd she'd go out with a loser like you." Adelaide felt her hand turning into her fist. This guy had no boundaries.

"Hey Eugene Thompson," she said in a demanding voice, "I'm the one who insulted you. Don't pretend like I'm not here." Flash grinned, finally looking at her.

"What? Do you want me to insult you for hanging out with these losers? Because, let's face it, they're starting to rub off on you. I say you should come over with me. At least I can do a 100 squats. And don't call me Eugene."

"Do you base your friends on how many squats they can do?" She wasn't even trying to insult him anymore; she just couldn't understand that people like Flash Thompson existed.

"If that means I don't have to be friends with a freak like Parker, then yeah, I do." Peter gritted his teeth.

"Good, I don't want to be friends with a jackass like you anyway," he found himself saying. Flash laughed.

"It talks," he joked, "Hey, Coach, did you catch that?" Adelaide turned around. They realized Coach Ross was standing behind them, looking very angry. Peter swallowed. Uh-oh, he thought.

"Parker. Detention for using foul language," he said, "And I want all of you to get your butts to class. Right now!" Flash winked at Adelaide and then pushed past Peter to get to class. Peter sighed and began walking to Algebra. For a moment, Adelaide just stood there, watching Peter walk away dejectedly. Everything that just happened, it was wrong. Ned and Adelaide walked behind him, keeping their distance even though they were all heading towards the same class.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Adelaide asked Ned quietly. Ned shrugged.

"This happens every day. I think Peter's kinda used to it by now." That was rough. With a kid like Flash Thompson there to point out his every flaw, Peter was bound to break sometime. And, yet, he still came to school every day. If it was up to Adelaide, she'd just switch schools to avoid the headache. She walked faster, catching up to him.

"Hey, Peter, don't take anything Flash said seriously. He's immature. He doesn't know what he's saying." Peter didn't look up from the floor.

"Thanks, but I still have detention and he doesn't." Adelaide tried to find an argument, but he was annoyingly right. She sighed. She was terrible at cheering people up. Adelaide looked at Ned, silently telling him to say something. Ned cleared his throat.

"We're still up for the movie marathon tonight, right?" he asked Peter. They were by the class doors now, walking inside. Peter nodded.

"Yeah. 7 o'clock, right?" Ned nodded, smiling. He gave Adelaide a thumbs up and the three of them sat down towards the back of Mr. Stevenson's class. Adelaide tried not to groan. Math was her worst subject and she hated it. She'd rather be sitting in science class, making chemical reactions. The teacher walked into the classroom and everyone quieted down. Mr. Stevenson was a strict sort of teacher. He had a beard kind of like Tony's but it was a lot thicker and he always wore a shirt and tie with his hair neatly combed away from his face. He wore circular glasses that did nothing to lessen the intensity of his glare when he was angry. As long as you stayed disciplined in his class, there would be no problems. Adelaide wondered what he did to students who hated doing math.

"Alright class, please take out your notebooks and turn to page 134. Today's lesson: parabolas," he said, making Adelaide internally groan. She slumped back in her seat. As Mr. Stevenson began talking, Adelaide couldn't help but tune him out after half a minute, staring out the window. It was snowing again. Adelaide lost track of how long she had been watching the snowfall until Peter suddenly tapped her shoulder. She blinked, looking away and coming face to face with Peter's worried look. She raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Adelaide Rivers," Mr. Stevenson said sternly, making her turn around, "I asked you a question." His glare was almost deadly and Adelaide frantically tried to read the board, trying to find the question he must have asked her.

"The vertex," Peter whispered from behind her.

"The vertex," she answered confidently. Mr. Stevenson studied her for a second before turning away.

"I'd appreciate it if you would maybe look at the board instead of out the window during my class," he said, making the class snicker. Adelaide rolled her eyes, turning around.

"Thanks Peter," she said. Peter tried to hide his blush, pushing up his glasses. Why was he blushing again? He cleared his throat, shaking himself out of it.

"No problem," he answered with a smile.

"No talking, Miss Rivers," Mr. Stevenson said, his back to them. Adelaide groaned quietly. This guy was starting to get on her nerves. It was only her second day. After about 13 more of those instances where Peter had to give her the answer, it was time to go. As she was gathering her stuff (which wasn't much because she hadn't even bothered to pull out her notebook, well knowing it would be useless), Mr. Stevenson made a dreadful announcement.

"Don't forget, this Friday there will be a test over everything we learned in these past two weeks. That includes today's lesson on parabolas," he said, looking directly at Adelaide. She glared back. She knew she was terrible at math and she didn't want to pay attention to learn it, but that didn't mean he had to rub it into her face. As she hitched her backpack onto her shoulder, she noticed Peter approaching her with a nervous look on his face. She waited for him to say something, but his eyes were darting everywhere to avoid her gaze.

"What?" she asked. He pushed his glasses up, clearing his throat. Adelaide glanced at Ned with a questioning look, but he merely shrugged in reply.

"I uh…well, you know, you just started school yesterday and you kind of missed everything he taught last week so I was thinking that maybe I could kinda help you out before the test this Friday…Only if you want, of course. If you don't want, then that's fine too. I don't want to bother you, but I was just wondering –"

"It's because you think I suck at math, isn't it?" Peter looked like a deer caught in headlights, confirming her suspicion.

"What? No! Of course not! I never said that," he stuttered. Peter glanced at Ned who was giving him a signal to stop talking. He shut his mouth quickly. Adelaide crossed her arms, raising a scrutinizing eyebrow. Peter pushed his glasses up again and she noticed her were broken from the middle, barely hanging together with duct tape.

"But you thought it," she said, feeling the anger in her chest rising. Yes, she was bad at math. Yes, she was the worst person at math ever. Why did everyone have to rub it in? At her retort, Peter stayed silent, looking away. Adelaide sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm fine with math by myself. I don't need your help," she said before turning on her heel and storming away in a flurry of anger. She felt embarrassed. She didn't need help. She could figure everything out by herself. And who was Peter to decide that she needed help anyway? She'd do fine on the test this Friday without him.

* * *

Adelaide marched into the penthouse, some of her anger still left over. She tossed her backpack by the door and stormed into the kitchen to get some of her chocolates. Adelaide searched the whole fridge, but there were no chocolates at all. She slammed the fridge close, ready to yell at Tony, only to find that he was standing right there. She crossed her arms.

"Where are my chocolates?" she asked accusingly. Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Angry, are we?" Adelaide tapped her foot impatiently. She didn't time for his childish tactics. She had to become an expert at math by this Friday and she needed her chocolates.

"Chocolates," she demanded. Tony put his hands up in the air, as if he were surrendering.

"You caught me. I accidentally finished the whole box. Sorry," he said nonchalantly. This did not help her anger.

"My name was on the box!" Tony thought about it.

"Now that you mention it, there was some kind of illegible scribble on the lid. I must not have realized it was your name," he said, shrugging. Adelaide groaned. This day was proving to just get worse.

"What am I supposed to eat now?" Tony inspected the fruit basket exaggeratedly, dramatically walking over to it

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't fruit healthier than chocolate?" She tossed an apple at him and he caught it just in time.

"You can eat an apple. I want chocolate." She turned around, sighing and pulling at her hair. She couldn't believe that Peter thought she actually needed help at math. Was she really that bad? No, she shook her head. She just wasn't paying attention in class and that's why he had to answer the questions for her. She could do math if she wanted to. She just chose not to because she didn't like it. That was it.

"So I'm gonna assume the second day of school didn't go so well," Tony said. She glared at him.

"Oh so you noticed?" she asked sarcastically. She leaned against the fridge with her arms crossed across her chest. He bit into the apple, taking his time to answer.

"Yeah, I did. What happened? Did your friends not like my autograph?" Adelaide sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Actually, one of them doesn't like you and she told me to keep the keychain." Tony laughed, not bothered at all.

"I like her. What about my biggest fan?"

"He was over the moon about it. Told me to tell my uncle and Mr. Stark thank you." Tony leaned against the island.

"Then what's your problem?" Adelaide sighed.

"Everyone thinks I'm terrible at math. Your biggest fan? Well he thinks he's some kind of genius. He asked me if I needed help with math. I'm not that terrible at it!" Tony cleared his throat awkwardly. He bit into the apple again to delay the answer.

"Well, I definitely think you could use some practice…"

"Not you too!" she groaned.

"Look, all I'm saying is that a little practice never hurt anyone."

"I have a math test this Friday and I know next to nothing," she said. Adelaide felt as if she was being attacked. She wasn't terrible at everything. Just math. Yet, for some reason, she felt as if she wasn't good at math, then she'd be considered incompetent in every subject even if she was an expert.

"I have an idea," he said, "Why don't you go practice?" Adelaide narrowed her eyes at him.

"Do know anything besides sarcasm?" The billionaire pretended to think about.

"Nope. Go practice." Adelaide rolled her eyes and grabbed her backpack from the floor before going into her room. She slammed the door behind her. She was going to prove Peter Parker wrong; she was going to make a better score than him this Friday.

* * *

"I'm afraid Miss Rivers that you cannot retake this test. You only had one chance," Mr. Stevenson said, breaking the news to her.

"And you're telling me this now?"

"How does it make a difference?" he asked. Adelaide mumbled something under her breath, snatching her test back from him and marching over to her seat. She couldn't believe this. She had studied every day since Tuesday. Granted, she didn't pay attention in class, but at least she studied. Then how in the world did she make a 76 on this test? Now her score in this class was a D. Adelaide sat at her desk, sulking. She knew there was a good reason she hated math. She could hear Peter and Ned talking about their test behind her.

"What'd you make, Peter?" she heard Ned ask. She could see Peter pushing his glasses up even without turning around.

"I got a 110, but only because I did the bonus question." A 110? Adelaide couldn't even imagine making that high of a score on any math test ever.

"What about you?" Peter asked Ned.

"I didn't have enough time to do the bonus so I only got a 100." Adelaide felt her eyes go wide.  _Only_  a 100? They were unbelievable.

"What did you make, Adelaide?" She turned around, still sulking. Ever since Peter had offered to help her with math, her pride had been deeply hurt. She was better than that. She didn't like taking help from people with things she knew she was very well capable of doing on her own. Adelaide sighed. But this time, she knew she'd have to accept help or else she was never going to pass this class. She tossed the paper onto Peter's desk and watched his eyes go wide at the score. Adelaide bet he had never seen that number written on any of his tests.

"You were right," she said begrudgingly, "I do need your help so…can you help me?" Peter looked up from the test.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he answered. Peter couldn't seem to believe that this blue-eyed girl was actually asking for his help after she'd yelled at him the first time he offered.

"Tomorrow after school, at your house?"

"Uh, sure…yeah." Adelaide sat back in her chair, looking at her test. She absentmindedly traced the number with her finger tip, silently changing it to a 100. She sighed, dropping the illusion and letting it change back. She hoped she'd made the right decision by agreeing to let Peter help.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter with a smile on my face - an evil one and a nice one. We get to see two characters that we haven't heard from in a while and I love writing them because it's so mysterious and funny at the same time lol. There's more Pepper mom, there's a lot more of Peter and Adie, and two new characters whom I love to death. You'll know them when you see them. ;)
> 
> So remember how I said my friend helped me out with the next plot point? Well, all the things in this chapter and the next few chapters are really just there to set up that plot point which I cannot wait for! I'm so hyped to write about it and it's literally the most perfect idea. It'll be unexpected, is all I will say...

* * *

_"He's a huge fan of_ _Tony_

_and I honestly_

_can't figure out why."_

* * *

Adelaide found Pepper in her room, standing by the overly large windows and talking on the phone. She noticed Adelaide walking in and held up a finger, silently telling her to wait. Adelaide sat down at her desk, slowly spinning back and forth in the chair. She picked up a pen from the desk, examining it. This pen looked as expensive as the desk it was on. Was there anything in this penthouse that didn't have a price consisting of at least triple digits?

"No, I can't understand, Harvey," Pepper yelled into the phone. Adelaide winced. She did not want to be Harvey at the moment, whoever he was.

"I don't care – you know what? We'll discuss this at the meeting tomorrow. Don't do anything until I'm there." She hit the end button, hanging up without even waiting to hear his response. Poor guy, Adelaide thought. Pepper turned around and sat in front of her.

"Sorry," she said, sighing, "Is this about your math test? Because I already saw the score, so don't bother lying about it." She didn't sound angry or upset, but Adelaide knew she'd find out about it sooner or later even if Adelaide had tried to change the score with her abilities. Nothing got past Pepper.

"Right," Adelaide said, "It is about that. My friend says he's going to help me this afternoon so I'm going to his house." Pepper frowned.

"He? And your letting him help? Hm, I wonder how that happened," Pepper said with a knowing smile. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"He's not my type. Anyway, he offered to help and I already talked to Happy and he's agreed to drop me there and pick me up." Pepper opened her mouth, but Adelaide beat her to it.

"He lives in Queens with his aunt and uncle, and, no, he doesn't know anything about my powers. He's not suspicious, he's not a bad guy, and – what else do you need to know?" Adelaide had listed off all the things that would make Pepper say no and she couldn't think of a reason she wouldn't be allowed to go. Pepper smiled, leaning forward.

"Do I get to know his name?"

"Oh yeah, Peter Parker. He's a huge fan of Tony and I honestly can't figure out why." Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Fine. You can go." Adelaide stood up, grinning.

"Thanks, Pep," she said, turning around to leave.

"Don't call me that," she told the teenager.

"Bye Pep!" Adelaide shouted as she closed the door behind her. She could almost see her frowning and shaking her head, bringing a smile to the teenager's face.

* * *

"Is it this one?" Happy asked, peering out the car window. Adelaide checked the address on her phone that she had asked Peter to send her yesterday. She put her phone away, turning it off.

"That's the one. Thanks Happs," she said, grabbing her backpack and opening the door.

"Don't call me that," he said, frowning. Adelaide threw him a smile over her shoulder as she closed the door behind herself. He lowered the window, glaring at her.

"I'm serious, Adelaide." Adelaide grinned teasingly, waving.

"Bye Happs!" she said and quickly ran away before he could say anything in response. What was it with the nicknames today? Whatever it was, Adelaide was having fun making everyone angry at her.

After walking past a few more houses, Adelaide stopped at the one from the address. The Parker residence looked nice. There were stairs leading up to the door, a chimney on the roof, a shoveled path. Adelaide briefly wondered if this was the kind of house she'd be living in with her parents had they not died. Maybe they'd have a big green lawn that she'd play in or a tree in their backyard that she'd ask her dad to make a treehouse on for her. And when it snowed, she would make a snowman with her parents. Maybe they'd have a snowball fight, then go inside and watch movies cuddled up on the sofa together with hot chocolate. But it wasn't like that and they weren't alive. Instead, they had been murdered in front of her young eyes and now she could barely remember what they were like. She forced herself to stop thinking about that. What's gone was gone. They weren't coming back.

She pulled her coat tighter and rang the bell, wrapping her arms around herself. Even though the sun was shining, she couldn't even feel a shred of warmth from it. She was shivering even inside her thick coat.

To the teenager's surprise, a red-headed woman opened the door, a warm smile on her face. Adelaide suddenly remembered that Peter didn't live with his parents either and this was probably Aunt May. Adelaide found herself smiling back.

"Hi Mrs. Parker, is Peter home?" Aunt May stepped back, allowing Adelaide to walk inside. She was hit with the surprisingly warm air. Much better than the cold.

"Hi," she said, "Peter's in his room and, please, call me May." May closed the door behind Adelaide.

"I'm assuming you're Adelaide. Peter told me you'd be coming," she said. There were loud footsteps from the stairs and then Peter's face popped up. His hair was obviously disheveled, as if he had just woken up from a nap, his glasses were crooked on his face, and he looked somehow surprised to see Adelaide standing in his home. It hadn't really registered in Peter's mind that this blue-eyed girl was serious about the math help so he'd taken a nap, just having woken up from the noise of the door opening. He hadn't even fixed his hair. Peter adjusted his glasses, pushing them up. Aunt May smiled at him.

"You know, Peter, doing math homework might require you to actually be awake," she teased light-heartedly. Peter cleared his throat.

"Sorry May, I didn't realize I fell asleep," the teenager said. Suddenly, Uncle Ben walked into the room, a bright smile on his face. For some reason she couldn't put her finger on, Adelaide took an immediate liking to Uncle Ben. He seemed so open and good-hearted.

"Well, hello. You must be Adelaide," he said, extending his hand. Adelaide shook it.

"Yeah, I am. And you must be Uncle Ben," she said. Adelaide realized she was smiling again. This might be the most she's smiled all week.

"Peter told me you're new here. If you want, Pete and I can show around Queens sometime," he said. Surprisingly, Adelaide found herself thinking that was a great idea. Maybe it was the way Ben had offered; she just couldn't refuse.

"Sounds great, Uncle Ben, but we have to go do math right now, remember?" Peter said, interrupting. Adelaide thought he was being rude.

"Sure," she told Ben, ignoring Peter, "I think that's a great idea." Uncle Ben smiled.

"Well, you two kiddos go do your homework now," he said. Adelaide smiled politely and followed Peter up the stairs. She decided that she liked Ben and May. They were a homey kind of nice. Adelaide felt comfortable around them; any blind person could see that they were both genuinely good people. There weren't many of those left in this world, sadly. Adelaide realized that even she couldn't say for herself that she was a genuinely good person. There were 13 years of her life that she couldn't remember and strange abilities she didn't know the origin of. She wasn't sure of herself, what she'd done in those 13 years. She didn't even know herself.

"You can put your backpack there," Peter said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She had been standing in the doorway, staring at the wall. Stop it, she told herself, you're going to creep him out. Adelaide put her black backpack next to Peter's red one and sat down in one of the spinning chairs, studying the room. It was actually pretty neat for a 13 year old boy's room. There was a bunk bed in the corner, a desk, a few posters on the wall, nothing outrageous. It was kind of cozy.

"So do we have to do math?" she asked, her back turned to him. She was inspecting the stuff on his desk now. He had a picture of himself with Ben and May during Christmas; they were posing in front of their tree. Peter looked about 7 years old.

"But that's why you came here," the boy replied, incredulous. This girl was unbelievable. He'd never met anyone who hated math this much. Peter heard a long, deep sigh come from the chair.

"Yeah, you're right. It's just that I…"

"Hate math. I know," he said, "But you're going to have to bring up your grade in the class sometime."

So the two teenagers both worked on their math homework, Peter helping Adelaide along the way. Sometime during their studying, Aunt May came in and gave them cookies which Adelaide finished all by herself, giving Peter only one or two. He didn't seem to mind, though. He was admittedly having fun – well as much fun as someone could have doing Algebra. He learned that Adelaide was much worse at math than he thought, though, he, of course, didn't say this out loud. And despite having to help her with every single problem, he had a feeling she was starting to catch on. Outside, a fiery blizzard began, but the two were oblivious to it, too invested in their work. The snow began to pile up in heaps and downstairs, as Ben and May watched the weather, the weatherwoman reported that the storm wasn't going to die down anytime soon and winds were suspected to only get stronger. There was a warning that several roads may be closed until the storm died down, and at the Stark Tower, Pepper was worrying about Adelaide. She hoped the teenager was safe, but she decided to call her just in case.

The teenager picked up in a heartbeat, needing an excuse to stop doing her homework.

"Hey Pep, what's up?" Pepper was too worried to get angry at the teenager for using that horrible nickname again.

 _"_ _Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."_ Adelaide scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I be okay? It's not like Peter's going to kidnap me, right Peter?" The teenager asked. Peter rolled his eyes in response. Adelaide heard Pepper sighing.

 _"_ _Adelaide, have you looked outside?"_ the woman asked. Adelaide glanced at Peter and then stood up, walking over to the window. Woah. It was a full blizzard. Everything was so white, she couldn't even see the Parker's mailbox 7 feet away. Adelaide suspected it was buried in the snow. As far as she could see in every direction, it was white. There must be at least 3 feet of snow on the ground. They wouldn't even be able to open the door without all of it piling into their house. Adelaide glanced at the clock. Despite the brightness outside, it was already 8 o'clock. She was supposed to be back at the Tower by now. Pepper took Adelaide's silence as an indication that she was looking outside.

 _"_ _All the roads are blocked and the storm isn't going to stop for a few hours now. There's no way they'd have the road paved in time for Happy to get there,"_  Pepper said. She had been thinking about this problem for an hour now and she still had no solution. How was she supposed to get Adelaide back to the Tower? Adelaide chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. Tony couldn't even send one of his Iron Man suits because the winds were too strong. There was no way to leave. Unless…

"What if I stayed here for the night?" Adelaide was surprised at her own suggestion. She hadn't been able to feel safe anywhere except the Tower. Peter looked up from his work at the question. He'd doubted that she would even come to his house in the first place and now she wanted to spend the night? He realized that there was no other option and it was too dangerous for her to leave right now in the storm. Adelaide turned around from the window.

"Is that okay? If I stay the night, I mean." Peter found himself nodding and Adelaide faced the window again.

"He said I can. Plus, his aunt and uncle are here too…I'll be fine, I promise," Peter heard her say into the phone. He had assumed she was talking to her aunt. "Thanks Pep, bye."

Adelaide turned around again, putting her phone in her pocket.

"Are you sure it's okay with your aunt and uncle?" she asked, walking back to her seat. She grabbed the pen off the desk and began fiddling with it again.

"Yeah, they don't mind." She smiled.

"Great. Thanks Pete." Pete? Where had that come from? It was too late to take it back now. She knew there was something with the nicknames today. "You know, Pete sounds a lot better than Peter," she added. He just shrugged.

"Ben's the only one who calls me that." Just then, Aunt May knocked on the open door, making the two teenagers turn away from the conversation.

"Hey you two," she said, "How's the studying going?"

"As good as anything with parabolas can be," Adelaide mumbled. May chuckled.

"Ada's going to stay here for the night," Peter said, a knowing smile underlying his impassive expression. Adelaide gave him a look which he decided to ignore for the moment being. "Because of the blizzard."

May nodded understandingly.

"Of course. I was just about to ask you about that. It's way too dangerous out there right now and with all the roads blocked, it would be better if you spent the night here." Adelaide smiled gratefully.

"Thank you. I'll leave tomorrow as soon as the roads are opened," she said. May smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get you something of mine for the night. It'll be a little big, but I'm sure you'll be fine," she said, leaving to get the clothes. As soon as she left, Adelaide swiveled around in her chair, a questioning look on her face to which Peter merely smiled to in reply.

"Ada?" she asked him. Really, it wasn't that terrible of a nickname. Peter shrugged, picking up his pencil.

"It suits you. And you know, Ada is a lot easier to say than Adelaide." She shook her head and tossed an eraser cap at his head, making him laugh. In the midst of their laughter, he caught sight of her brilliant blue eyes again.

This girl was a mystery Peter had yet to solve.

Later that night, the two teenagers slept on the bunk bed, Adelaide on the top and Peter on the bottom. Their work laid scattered across Peter's desk and neither of them had had enough energy to fix it. All that math had been draining. It was 3 hours after Pepper's phone call, and the wind was still howling just as fiercely outside, showing no sign of stopping. In the dark, Adelaide struggled to fall asleep, mindlessly tracing her finger over the scar on her arm as a method of comfort. She hated being in complete darkness; she needed some kind of light in the room. It helped her feel safe. At the Tower, she always slept with the table lamp on. She couldn't fall asleep without it.

"Peter?" she asked quietly, staring at the ceiling above her. At first there was no answer. Then, the sound of Peter moving in his bed.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice groggy.

"Sorry," she said, "Never mind." She could hear Peter yawning and turning in his bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, still sounding sleepy.

"Can you turn on the lamp?" she asked quietly, holding her breath. Wordlessly, Peter got out of bed and switched on the lamp next to his desk and then crawled back under his blanket. Adelaide breathed a sigh of relief.

"Better?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Yeah. Thanks," she whispered in the silence. For once in New York, there were no car horns outside, no one was yelling, everybody was in their house – the city was finally asleep. It was peaceful. The calm during the storm.

"No problem," he mumbled, "Goodnight, Ada."

Adelaide closed her eyes, a small smile on her face.

"Goodnight, Pete."

* * *

From the house across from the Parker residence, a certain man with an eyepatch was watching the teenager sleep. He didn't need a window or binoculars; his ability allowed him to see through almost anything. These thin walls stood no chance against him. He'd been watching the girl ever since she left the Tower, following at a nonsuspicious distance. He found it amusing. The very same girl who actually stood a chance against him in a brawl, was worrying about her math homework. Oh, the irony of it. He grinned to himself. If she only knew the truth of it all. She'd probably laugh at herself, then give him a black eye for laughing at her. He clearly remembered how much she despised him. He was the only person she wished dead.

Instead, Rivers was sharing a bunk bed with a puny boy, worrying about her math. He watched in disgust. All that power. Wasted on something useless. Hell, Lukov could've sent him and he could've done the job. Even better than her, he'd like to think. In the silence, the ringing of his phone startled Graves. He fished it out of his coat pocket before it drew any attention to him.

"What did I say about calling me?" he hissed into the phone. He didn't care that the man on the other side could destroy him in a heartbeat. It was hard to keep an eye on the girl when he kept calling and blowing his cover. He was just lucky no one had seen him.

 _"_ _Quit crying, Graves."_

"What do you want?" he asked, tired of being tortured with questions. It was a bit annoying, really.

 _"_ _A whiskey. A couple trillion dollars. Which one will you get for me? Oh, that's right. You're useless."_  Graves gritted his teeth in anger and pulled his hand into a fist. He was crossing the line.

"You asked me to watch the girl. I'm watching the girl. So let me do my job," he growled. He knew he was entertaining the old man with his anger, but that was Graves' weakness. He always let his anger control his actions, to hell with the consequences.

 _"_ _You know, I find that funny, because the other half of your job was to report back to me and I haven't heard from you in two weeks."_

"There isn't anything to report. She's with this boy and –"

 _"_ _There's a boy?"_ Graves sighed.

"Lukov, she's a teenager. Of course there's a boy."

 _"_ _Give me something useful."_

"She started school this week."

 _"_ _Now do you see what I mean by useless? She started school this week, and I'm just now hearing about it. I should've sent someone else."_  Graves wanted to knocked the man's teeth out through the phone. He was getting on his last nerve.

"No one knows her better than me." Graves felt the coldness even through the phone. It chilled him to his spine as he waited for his reply.

 _"_ _Wrong,"_ he whispered, his voice full of the deadliest venom,  _"I do."_  Graves swallowed, wanting to take his words back. Lukov was touchy about a lot of things, but Rivers was number one on that list. He loved her more than anything. Not the fatherly kind of love, but the kind of love an insane man has with his biggest weapon. An addiction.

 _"_ _Do better."_  Graves was met with the shrill sound of the phone call ending and he angrily stuffed his phone back into his coat. Lukov's last comment echoed in his mind, forming into a brilliant idea. Piece by piece he put together his plan, occasionally watching Rivers through the wall. Once, she had climbed out of bed and sat at the desk. Graves chuckled to himself quietly. She was doing math. How nice.

He was going to keep a closer eye on her and he had the perfect way to do it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this chapter, Graves makes another appearance (btw, Graves is his last name) and I finally get to start on the Big Thing that I'm planning and this chapter is the first real 'build up' to it. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how I want to tie in all the Spider-Man stories with my version of Peter and let me tell you, it's a real pain in the a**. It's so hard picking just one villain. It's still a little ways down the road and we have a lot of Adie problems to deal with until then.

* * *

_"What, do you love math now or something?"_

* * *

It was just another normal Sunday morning for Ned Leeds as he left the Whole Foods Market with his mother. They were short on milk, his mother had reminded him this morning after breakfast. The blizzard had died down while they were asleep and some of the roads were paved by the time the Leeds family had woken up. As Ned and his mother turned the corner to find a cab, the teenager realized that he was standing across the street from the Stark Tower. Woah, he thought, Mr. Stark really lives here. For all he knew, Tony Stark was in there right now, maybe working on his Iron Man suit. Ned remembered the keychain that Adelaide had given him. He wondered if Adelaide's uncle had told Mr. Stark about him. He doubted it, but it was still pretty cool to think about.

"Ned, would you please call a cab for us? I've got to get this; it's urgent," his mother said, gesturing to her ringing phone.

"Sure," he answered as she turned away to take the call. Ned was about to stick his hand out to stop one of the yellow cars, when something caught his attention across the street. It was a normal black car, but that wasn't what Ned found shocking. It was the person that stepped out of it. The teenager took a step back in dismay. With big, curious eyes Ned Leeds watched his friend Adelaide Rivers step out of the black car with Happy Hogan and get warmly greeted by none other than the famous Tony Freaking Stark. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his eyes. His friend. His friend! With Tony Stark!

"Adelaide!" he shouted, waving. He realized he was grinning maniacally, but he couldn't care less – his friend was with Tony Stark! With all the traffic and street noise, Adelaide didn't hear her friend calling her name across the street. Ned watched in fascination as Mr. Stark patted his friends shoulder who lightly hit his arm in return. Adelaide laughed at something Happy said and then Pepper Potts emerged from the glass doors, a huge smile on her face. Ned took in the whole scene with his mouth agape. This was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him. Then, the four of them walked through the double doors and into the Stark Tower. For a second, Adelaide looked over her shoulder, scanning the area, but, once again, she didn't see her friend waving at her. Laughing at something, Adelaide turned around and followed the others into the Tower.

Ned realized he was out of breath. He still couldn't believe his eyes. He just saw his friend go inside the Stark tower with Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, and Tony Stark himself. The teenager realized how little he knew about his friend. Suddenly, he remembered that her uncle was friends with Tony Stark. Wow, she is so lucky, he thought.

"Is everything all right?" his mother asked him. He hadn't realized that she was already finished with her phone call. In the midst of the event across the street, Ned had forgotten to call a cab like his mother had asked him to do. He still had a huge grin on his face.

After they stopped a cab, Ned retold everything that he had seen in detail to his mother all the way until they got home. He was buzzing with excitement the whole ride.

Ned couldn't wait until he met Adelaide tomorrow.

* * *

Monday afternoon, as Adelaide entered the lunchroom, she noticed that Ned was sitting by himself at their lunch table and Michelle and Peter weren't there yet. Well, knowing Michelle, she probably skipped lunch and went to the library so it wasn't much of a surprise. Adelaide sat down in front of Ned with her lunch tray, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Where's Peter?" For some reason, Ned look happier than usual. Weird, Adelaide thought. His best friend was missing and he was here eating happily. Ned shrugged, his mouth full.

"He probably stayed behind with Mr. Simons in chemistry or something. I don't know. Anyway –"

"Chemistry?" she asked. She didn't know Peter liked chemistry. That was her favorite subject. Ned nodded.

"Oh, yeah. He loves chemistry. I don't know why anyone would like it so much, but he's a genius at it." She might be terrible at math, but chemistry was her area of expertise. Adelaide never knew why, but it was her easiest subject. It came to her naturally – like a gift. Math on its own seemed like rocket science, but any math involved in chemical reactions was a breeze. She didn't get a chance to take the class this year because she was so late into the year, but she was definitely taking it next year at Midtown High.

"Sooo what did you do over the weekend, Adelaide?" Ned asked. She missed the huge grin on his face because she was thinking about Peter. For some reason, that day always put a smile on her face whenever she thought about it. Maybe it was those amazing chocolate chip cookies or Ben and May's amazing hospitality or even the thing with the nicknames. Thanks to Peter, she didn't hate math now. Although, she still disliked it and would do anything to avoid it, she didn't hate it. It was progress. Maybe next time, she would make progress on the actual math and not just how she felt about it.

"Not much," she answered, poking a piece of broccoli around with her fork, "Just homework, really." Ned's mouth fell open. Adelaide met Mr. Stark and she thought it was 'not much'?! This girl was something else. But Ned had held it in all weekend long and he just couldn't hold it in any longer. It spilled out of him.

"I saw you meet Mr. Stark!" he said, his voice nothing short of a shout. Adelaide looked at him with wide eyes, dropping her fork.

 _Shit_.

"You got out of the car with Happy Hogan and then you met Mr. Stark and you even met Pepper Potts! Adelaide you're so lucky!" He was bouncing in his seat now, beaming. This really was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him. He already felt famous. On the other hand, this was definitely not the coolest thing that had ever happened to Adelaide and she was struggling to get words out of her mouth. She looked around the room, but no one had seemed to hear her friend over the noise.

"Just wait until Peter hears about this!" Ned continued.

"You can't tell Peter!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. Ned looked confused.

"Why not?" he asked. He thought his friend would be happy to hear about this. Adelaide sat back in her seat, trying to regain composure. She needed to find an excuse that sounded believable. He saw her with Tony. Of course, she met him everyday, but she couldn't tell him that. To Ned, it was a big deal. What could she say?

"I just don't want you to tell Peter because..because…" Adelaide learned one thing: she didn't work great under pressure. And under pressure or not, she still was a terrible liar.

"Um…it's because I…because it…it's supposed to be a surprise! Yeah! A surprise!" Ned still looked confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Her smile vanished. What was the surprise?

"I…um, the surprise is that um…I…you and Peter get to meet Tony!" Adelaide found herself saying. Well, now there was another hole that she had dug for herself. How was she going to get out of this one? Ned looked ready to burst from happiness. He thought his friend meeting Mr. Stark was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him, but he was going to meet the legend himself! Ned thought he was going to pass out from the excitement.

"M-M-Mr. Stark? I'm going to meet Mr. Stark!" he yelled. Some girls who were walking by gave them a weird look and Adelaide shushed him.

"You have to be quiet about it!" Lying to one person was enough, Adelaide didn't know what she'd do if someone else heard.

"So do you see why you can't tell Peter about this?" she asked, hoping he'd understand. He nodded.

"Adelaide, I promise I won't tell Peter. Don't worry about it," Ned said, looking serious. Adelaide let out a sigh of relief.

"Won't tell me what?" And the relief was gone. Peter sat down next to Ned with his lunch tray, curiously looking between his two friends. What were they hiding? Luckily, Ned had Adelaide covered.

"It's nothing. Just something Adelaide told me about math, that's all," Ned said. Adelaide was impressed; Ned was a better liar than she thought  **(A/N: who remembers the porn lie he told lol)**. Peter raised an eyebrow, a small smile on his face.

"Math? What, do you love math now or something?" he asked her teasingly. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"No. It's still the worst thing in the world," she said, sipping her water. As Peter was shaking his head at her, she secretly gave Ned a thumbs up who grinned brightly in return. He hated lying to his best friend, but this was for his surprise and Ned knew that Peter would love it more than anything. Adelaide hated lying to them, but it was for her own good and now she would have to find a way to actually arrange the surprise for them.

As Peter and Ned began talking about Legos, Adelaide suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise. She could feel someone watching her, but when she whipped her head around, there was no one except a janitor mopping the floor by the doors. He was wearing a cap over his head and Adelaide couldn't see his face, but, for some reason, she felt as if he was watching her. She was just being paranoid, she told herself. Why would he be watching her? Adelaide turned away, joining her friends' conversation. She convinced herself that it was nothing. A moment later, when she glanced back at the doors, he was gone.

* * *

This wasn't the first time Graves had gotten excited about killing someone. He always made it theatrical, entertaining – for himself, at least.

With a knowing smile on his face, he cruised the halls with the janitor supplies that he had gotten from an open closet that he had found. He whistled a familiar tune, nodding at anyone passing by him. The trick to getting away with murder was to look like you belong. To do that, Graves had stayed up all night to memorize the layout of this school. Every hall and corner was etched into his memory. He even memorized the schedule so he'd know where everyone would be at every hour. At the moment, all of the kids were at lunch, leaving the halls empty for him. But he wasn't here to just cruise the halls, of course; he had a destination in mind.

Acting as nonchalant as possible, Graves entered the gym, pushing the cart into the teacher's lounge. Just as he had expected, there was only one person there at the moment and it was one of the few rooms in this school without a camera. That just made his job easier. Byron Ross was on the phone and he ignored the janitor that had just entered the room, rather annoyed by his noisiness. He was talking to his wife, convincing her that they will go on a vacation soon, but she didn't want to listen.

"Honey, I can't take any more days off work," he told her. Graves pulled out a mop from the cart and began mopping the floor, slowly moving closer to Ross as he did. Graves could feel the knife in his pocket and his fingers itched to pull it out, but he refrained; he would have to wait. Instead, he pulled his cap lower, covering his face.

"I'll lose my job!" he shouted into the phone, slamming his fist onto the table. The pens rattled, one of them rolling off. The ink splattered all over the floor. The two men made eye contact, Ross looked curious while Graves had a grin smeared onto his face. Without looking away from the janitor, Ross tried to end the call with his wife quickly.

"We'll talk about this when I get home, okay? Love you, bye." He put his phone into his pocket, eyes still on the janitor. Something about him didn't settle in Ross' chest.

"How come I've never seen you around?" Ross asked him. Graves merely shrugged.

"I'm new," he answered simply. Ross nodded, but he still felt something was off. He studied the janitor carefully.

"Are you going to clean that up?" Graves asked Ross, gesturing to the ink on the floor. Ross raised an eyebrow. The tension between the two men was evident, almost palpable.

"That's your job," he answered, feeling more curious. Something about this man didn't seem right. The janitor shrugged and began mopping up the ink. Ross stood there for a little while longer, studying the man. He looked lean and cunning. Like he knew something that Ross didn't. After a while, Ross convinced himself that it was all in his head and turned away to head back out to the gym. Lunch was almost over. Turning his back to the janitor was the worst decision Ross had ever made – and his last. The moment he'd turned away, Graves dropped the mop and whipped out his knife, holding it against the man's neck even before the mop hit the floor. His breath turned uneven from excitement. Ross closed his eyes, regretting every moment of this past minute. He should've trusted his gut, but it was too late now. He could feel the janitor's breath – although, Ross had figured out by now he wasn't really a janitor – on his neck, hot, heavy, and full of a terrible stench that might have been a cigarette or beer or both. Ross was suddenly aware of everything around him, his senses heightened. He felt his every breath, wondering which one was the last.

"Sorry, coach," Graves whispered into his ear. The smile in his voice was evident. Ross' heartbeat doubled, but his voice seemed to had stopped working. In a blink of an eye, Graves flipped Ross around and stabbed the knife into the man's chest, aiming for the heart. Ross screamed in agony, but the sound didn't leave the room because Graves covered his mouth. Ross fell to the ground, withering and clawing at the hands on his face that were suffocating him. He was starting to lose consciousness and his attempts to pull away were useless. Suddenly, he knew his next breath was his last.

"I always clean up after my messes." That was the last thing Ross heard before he closed his eyes forever.

And as Graves cleaned the evidence, there was only one person that he could think about. He was going meet her. Soon. Very soon.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is basically another buildup to the climax I'm wanting to hit and I promise it's coming and that it's vvverrry good. Soon. Very soon. Also, this chapter also has the consequences from the previous chapter which I apologize for lol. Ross wasn't supposed to die, but this is Graves we're talking about soooo. I guess Ross isn't gonna be going on that vacation with his wife anytime soon. Wow, I sound despicable. Hm.
> 
> Anyway, my average for a chapter is usually about 3,000-4,000 words but this is around 2,000 words mainly because I didn't want to put too much in this chapter and it felt good to end it where I did. I will say that it ended with a lot more unanswered questions because you know I can't go too long without those :)

* * *

_"Once Pepper says_

_you gotta do something,_

_there's no argument there."_

* * *

Once again, Ned Leeds was having another normal day as he told his mother goodbye and left the car. He was about to climb the concrete stairs to the entrance of Midtown Middle when he spotted a very familiar black car. How could he forget it? It was the car that he had seen Adelaide get out of before she entered the Stark Tower and met Tony Stark. Of course, there were many cars like that one in all of New York, but he knew it was the same one when his friend stepped out of it. His heartbeat sped up, wondering who else must be inside that car. It was just his luck when the window of the driver's seat rolled down, revealing the face of Happy Hogan. Adelaide bent over, talking to him. Ned wasn't that far away and he could hear their conversation pretty clearly.

"Happy, you drop me here and pick me up every day," she said, "By now you should know how terrible this dump is."

"Not my problem, kid. Tony and Pepper sent you here, tell them." Adelaide sighed.

"I've told Pepper a million times, but she says I have to go to school. Something about education and friends. But I have better things to do, you know." Happy chuckled.

"Once Pepper says you gotta do something, there's no argument there," he said, making Adelaide sigh and slump her shoulders lazily against the car. "At three, okay?"

"Can't you take me back to the Tower now?" she asked.

"Pepper's orders. And, hey, try to have some fun." he said, beginning to roll up the window and Adelaide took a step back. "But not too much. Bye, kid." Adelaide stood there until the car rolled away, wondering if he'd notice her if she climbed on top of it and made herself invisible. In fact, it wasn't such a terrible idea. She could just hitch a ride back to the Tower with Happy and wander around invisibly until 3 and hitch a ride to school where Happy would take her back. It was a genius plan, but she doubted the unexcused absences would go unnoticed by Pepper.

"Bye," she mumbled to herself before turning away and climbing the stairs that ascended to her least favorite place. In the midst of her sulking, she didn't notice her friend standing there, his mouth agape. She walked past him, waiting for this day to end already so she could go back to the Tower.

Ned was left dumbfounded at how casual his friend had been talking to Happy Hogan. She said that he drove her here and back every day. He had so many questions, he didn't know what to think first. Why did Happy Hogan drive her every day? Did she always go back to the Stark Tower after school? What if…What if she  _lived_  at the Stark Tower? Ned shook his head. That was absurd. Crazy. Preposterous. Insane. If she lived at the Stark Tower, then she'd tell them…right? As crazy as the idea was, what if it was true? Then that meant Adelaide  _lived with Tony Stark_. And Pepper Potts?! What on earth was going on? Ned felt dizzy with all the questions and he leaned onto the railing on the stairs for support. None of this made sense. Had Adelaide been lying? Maybe he was just jumping to conclusions, but…wait. Did Timothy Lark even exist? And what about the keychains? Ned didn't know what to do. He stood there, against the railing, trying to sort out what he knew from what he thought he knew, but the line had become fuzzy. The only way he could find out the truth was to ask Adelaide herself, but if what he thought was true, and she had been lying this whole time, then would she tell him to truth now? There was so much he didn't know, but he was dying to find out.

Suddenly, the bell rang and Ned absentmindedly hurried to class, his mind foggy. He knew had to do something. But what?

* * *

Adelaide had begrudgingly dragged herself to English and plopped down in her seat next to Michelle who's nose was already stuck in a book. Adelaide couldn't understand how someone could want to read this early in the morning. She'd rather take a nap, but just as she was about to lay her head down on her desk, Mrs. Goodall clapped her hands, her annoying smile just making Adelaide feel lazier. How were these people so energetic at this hour?

"I hope you all remember the test that we have today and studied well in advance. Please clear your desk and have out a pencil while I pass out the tests," she announced, sounding happy about it. Adelaide threw her head back and groaned. She had forgotten all about the test and hadn't studied at all. Just great. Maybe after seeing how many tests Adelaide was failing, Pepper would realize that school just wasn't for her and let her out. She laughed to herself. Like Pepper would do anything that absurd. Adelaide sighed when Mrs. Goodall put the test on her desk. It already looked hard. She glanced over at Michelle who was already working on her test, as the rest of the class was. Adelaide glanced at Mrs. Goodall, who was writing something on the board, her back to the class.

"Pst," she whispered, "Did you study?" Michelle gave her a glare and went back to writing on her test. Adelaide took that as a yes and slumped back in her seat, defeated. There was no point in stalling. The answers weren't going to come floating to her so might as well start it now. Just as she picked up her pencil, the intercom crackled to life.

_"_ _Attention all Midtown students. There is an emergency assembly in the gym. Teachers, please lead your classes to the gym in a calm and cordial manner. Thank you."_

As much as Adelaide wanted an excuse to not take the test, the announcement made her heart beat faster. She could feel in her chest that something wasn't right, but she didn't know what. She was in the dark, just as the rest of the school seemed to be. Mrs. Goodall didn't miss a beat and she began leading the class out of the room in a line, the smile still on her face. Adelaide didn't miss how it was slightly trembling as she passed by her on her way out. Adelaide's stomach was tying itself into knots. She hated not knowing what was going on and she found herself feeling for her scar as she walked in the line to the gym. This time, it did nothing to comfort her.

Adelaide turned around to ask Michelle if she knew what was happening, but the girl wasn't there. Strange, she thought. She swore Michelle was right behind her as they left the classroom together. Adelaide scanned the rest of the line, but Michelle had seemingly disappeared and Mrs. Goodall didn't even seem to notice. The moment they approached the gym doors, Adelaide forgot all about Michelle and her heartbeat doubled. She was anxious to know what was happening. Once inside, she craned her neck, trying to see what was happening, but she couldn't see past the large crowd of kids in front of her. Somehow still calm and collected, Mrs. Goodall directed them to the bleachers. She wasn't smiling anymore.

Adelaide scanned the bleachers and found Peter and Ned sitting next to each other. She ignored Mrs. Goodall's instructions and walked past her to her friends. As she crossed the distance to them, she could finally see what was going on. It was a confusing sight and all Adelaide got were more questions. There were several police officers and men dressed in suits, all of them wearing a grave look on their face. Their principal was among them, who was normally a happy guy was now looking solemn as he watched the kids pile into the bleachers. Adelaide's breath was stuck in her throat as she took in the scene. What had happened?

"Do you know what's going on?" Peter asked her. Adelaide shook her head and glanced at Peter and Ned. Judging by the looks on their faces, they knew this was something serious. In fact, everyone in the room knew it was something serious. No one was making jokes and aside from the tense murmuring, it was quiet. After everyone had settled into the bleachers, their principal, Mr. Morris, stood up, clearing his throat. The whole room fell silent and the hairs on her arm rose. She shared a worried glance with Peter. The curiosity was ripping her apart.

"Students and teachers," he said, "I'm sure you all are wondering what is going on. There has been…an incident at our school. It happened yesterday. More specifically, at 1:34 pm. I…I have no words to say about how deeply I feel about this, but I will let Officer Kindcaid explain the events." He sat down, but Adelaide's eyes continued to watch Mr. Morris. The man suddenly looked very tired. She could see it in his slumped shoulders and the way his eyes looked lost like he didn't know where to look and if he did, he seemed to be looking far away, into his thoughts. Officer Kincaid stood up and the air around them tensed even more – if that was even possible.

"Students," he began, his voice hard like a rock, "your beloved coach, coach Byron Ross died yesterday, here in this gym." Loud gasps came from the crowd, but Adelaide couldn't make a sound. Sure she hadn't known Coach Ross very well, but the fact that someone had died in the same building that she was in when he did and now she was standing in the room where it happened, chilled her to her bones.

"Oh…my god," she heard Ned say. Peter was turning slightly pale and Ned looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Adelaide was rubbing her thumb over her scar over and over again. There was a terrible feeling in her chest that she couldn't explain. Maybe it was the essence of death in the room.

"Our investigation reveals that he did not die a natural death. We cannot be sure yet, but we have reason believe it was a terrible accident. Again, this is not what we believe happened for certain, and we are still hard at work trying to find the answer. Our job is a bit difficult due to the fact that Bryon Ross's body is nowhere to be found, but we will not let that stop us. Mr. Morris has informed us that, during the moment of the incident, you were all in the cafeteria. My request is that if any one of you know anything that might be able to help, we encourage you to step up and tell us. We're the good guys and we're here to help. My team and I going to be here for the remainder of this day so if you have anything to tell us, don't hesitate. We want to know what happened to Byron Ross as much as you do. Thank you for your cooperation."

For a moment, no one moved. Then, it was like everyone wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. Frozen in shock, the three teenagers took their time to leave the gym and even then, they were silent. Until:

"I can't believe this is happening," Ned said, staring straight ahead. Peter nodded in agreement.

"Me neither. I mean, we were right here in the same building when it happened."

"How do you think it happened?" Adelaide asked. The boys shrugged.

"I have no idea," Peter said, "It could be anything." For the rest of the day, Adelaide continued to ponder about what the accident could've been. Something still didn't feel right. If it was an accident, then why were there so many police and detectives there? Mr. Morris' face did not say that Coach Ross had died by accident. Her gut was telling her something just wasn't right. Adelaide knew the NYPD knew more than they let on, but how was she supposed to find out what they were hiding? There must be a reason they were hiding it. Adelaide just had to know why.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to kind of fast forward the time after this chapter, but Age of Ultron starts next chapter!

* * *

_"We were just breaking up."_

* * *

The funeral for Coach Ross had been over the weekend and everyone she knew had attended. Even Flash was there. Adelaide had managed to coax Pepper into coming with her, although she hid her face behind a thick scarf and a hat. JARVIS thought that fake prescription glasses would disguise her better so Pepper ended up wearing those, too.

Although many people attended, it was a small service. Adelaide noticed a woman silently crying next to the casket and the teenager assumed she was Coach Ross' wife. She looked regretful and tired as if she was holding the weight of a million worlds on her shoulders. Her hands kept wandering and Adelaide realized it was because she didn't know where to put them anymore. Adelaide was sitting towards the back of the church next to Pepper when Peter and Ned walked in. Adelaide waved her hand to get their attention as they walked past and then the two boys took a seat next to her.

"Uh, hi…" Peter said, and Adelaide realized he was talking to Pepper. Suddenly, it struck her that she hadn't thought of a fake name for Pepper. Luckily, Pepper had it figured out.

"Hi, I'm Virginia, Adelaide's aunt. You must be Peter. Adelaide's told me a lot about you," she said and Adelaide subtly elbowed her. Peter smiled.

"Nice to meet you," he replied politely, pushing his glasses up.

"Ned, right?" Pepper asked, smiling at Ned who looked slightly confused. Adelaide raised an eyebrow, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Y-Yeah," he said, laughing nervously, "That's me."

The funeral service started and ended within the half-hour and then they all gathered outside as the casket was buried. The police never did find Coach Ross' body so the casket was buried with memories of him. It was a peaceful service. The chill had lessened and there was only a light breeze outside as the sun was setting into the city skyline, coloring the sky a million colors. Maybe Coach Ross would've thought it was too soft or too beautiful – he was a little unsentimental – but it clearly brought contentment to his wife's heart. Somewhere during the service, she had found her closure.

After the service was over, everyone began departing. It had started to get colder and people huddled in their coats, quickly walking to their car for warmth. Adelaide hung back with Peter and Ned as Pepper left to get the car started.

"It was very nice to meet you two," Pepper told Peter and Ned before heading off. For a moment, the three of them stood in the grass, silently watching the skyline.

"Your aunt's really nice," Peter said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"So is yours," Adelaide replied, shrugging. They were silent again.

"It was a great service," Ned said after a while. The other two teenagers nodded in agreement. Once again, silence passed over them. It was interrupted when someone shouted Peter's name. It was Ben, behind the wheel of a car. Adelaide grinned, waving at him. The three teenagers walked along with Peter to his car.

"Hey kids," Ben said, "How'd it go?"

"I think his wife needed this," Adelaide said. Ben nodded understandingly.

"See you tomorrow, guys," Peter said, waving as he walked over to the passenger seat.

"See ya," Ned said, waving back. Adelaide stuffed her hands in her coat.

"Bye Pete, see you, Ben. Tell May I said hi," she said, taking a step back. Peter waved.

"Will do," Ben replied, "Bye Ned." He rolled up the window and then drove away. Right behind Peter's car, Ned's mother was waiting for him. Ned said goodbye and got into his car and left, leaving Adelaide alone with her thoughts. She briefly wondered what was taking Pepper so long. Adelaide found a bench near the sidewalk and sat down, pulling her coat tighter. She could begin to see her breath when she exhaled. The sun had set and the city was starting to get a lot colder. From the corner of her eye, Adelaide saw someone sitting down on the bench, next to her. Turning to look, she saw that it was Michelle. Adelaide realized that she hadn't seen her since the day she had disappeared before the assembly.

"Hey Michelle," she greeted, "Where were you? You missed the whole service." Michelle stared straight ahead, at Coach Ross's tombstone. Her gaze was hard as ice and Adelaide hesitated to ask why.

"There's something I have to tell you," she said after a long while. She was still staring at the tombstone. Adelaide studied her curiously. Michelle had never showed this much emotion before. Something was definitely wrong.

"What is it?" she asked the girl carefully. One wrong move, and Michelle might not tell her at all and Adelaide was dying to know. Michelle took her time to answer. She inhaled deeply, but her breath was shaky.

"Coach Ross didn't die by accident." Adelaide's heartbeat sped up and she found herself leaning forward as if doing so would make her say it faster. She had been right about the NYPD hiding something, but how did Michelle know what it was?

"He was  _murdered_."

"Adelaide!" Adelaide whipped her head around, fear coursing through her veins. It was Pepper waiting in the car. Adelaide held up a hand, telling her to wait. When she turned back to Michelle, she was gone. The teenager stood up, frantically scanning the whole cemetery for her, but she was nowhere. It was completely dark now and it would be impossible to even try to look for the girl. Taking a shaky breath, Adelaide stuffed her hands in her coat and hurried out of the graveyard.

* * *

The next day at school, Adelaide was anxious to find her curly-haired friend. The suspense had kept her awake all night long and she hadn't been able to get even a wink of sleep. Despite that, she didn't feel tired at all. If anything, she was pumped with adrenaline. At this point, it was the only thing keeping her from nodding off. She was jittery, constantly tapping her foot or pen, always searching the room as if she was expecting something to jump out at her. And to make things worse, she had a double dose of caffeine this morning, the second cup hidden from Pepper, of course. Tony had watched her swallow the whole cup in seconds, but didn't bother asking. At this point, the billionaire knew the teenager was more questions than answers.

Michelle wasn't in English in the morning or even at lunch in the afternoon. Adelaide had searched the library 7 times now, in hopes that she would find her there, but no avail. Peter and Ned could clearly see the worry on their friend's face as she plopped down in front of them.

"Where's your lunch?" Peter asked her. She barely seemed to hear his question, staring at the empty spot by the wall. Where on earth  _was_  that girl? She was driving Adelaide up the wall.

"Adelaide," Ned said, waving his hand in front of her. She blinked, looking away.

"Hm? Oh, I'm not hungry," she answered. Truth was, she hadn't eaten anything all day besides the two – three – cups of coffee which, she doubted counted. Even then, she wasn't hungry and she knew she wouldn't be until she figured out what the hell was going on. Adelaide began tapping her foot anxiously, searching the cafeteria. She knew Michelle was here – she had seen her this morning as she was walking into school. Adelaide had ran after her, shouted her name, but the girl had kept walking and after she had turned the corner, it was like she had disappeared into the crowd of kids and Adelaide hadn't seen her since. If there was one thing Michelle was good at, it was hiding. You couldn't find her unless she wanted to be found. But if there was one thing Adelaide was good at, it was being stubborn. She going to find Michelle somehow even if it meant tracking her down to her house. Although, she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Adelaide, are you okay?" Ned asked, "You seem a little…"

"Jumpy," Peter finished. Adelaide shook her head.

"I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." The two boys hardly looked convinced and shared a worried look.

"If you say so," Ned said, turning back to his lunch. Peter continued to watch the girl, not entirely convinced. She was hiding something.

"What it is, Ada?" he asked. The use of the nickname made Adelaide look at him. He looked genuinely concerned. Adelaide forced a smile.

"I'm fine, really," she said, hoping that would be enough to convince him. "I've just had a lot of coffee today, that's all."

"I heard about this woman who bought a coffee from Starbucks and she found a spider inside so she sued and won a million dollars," Ned said, "Did you find a spider in your coffee?" Despite the stress, Adelaide smiled. He could be such a dork sometimes.

"No, Ned, I didn't find a spider in my coffee today. You'll be the first to know if I do." After that, Peter and Ned launched off into a conversation about people suing other people and Adelaide silently slipped out of the cafeteria. She decided to go to the bathroom to wash her face, maybe clear her a mind a little. She could definitely use some cold water to wake herself up. Since everyone was at lunch, the bathroom was empty which was just what Adelaide needed. Some peace and quiet. Just as she was wiping her face with a paper towel, Adelaide heard the sound of a toilet flushing and then Michelle walked out of the stall. Adelaide was onto her in seconds.

"Where the  _hell_  have you been? I've been looking for you all day like a complete madwoman," she whisper-yelled. Even the walls had ears, but Adelaide was barely keeping her temper in check right now. Michelle had gone MIA ever since this morning and now she turns up – 7 hours later – in the fucking bathroom. Did she have any idea how anxious Adelaide had been all day?

"Avoiding you," the girl answered, walking past her to wash her hands. Adelaide stood in her spot for a second, wondering what on earth just happened. Then, she followed Michelle to the sink, angered.

" _Avoiding me?_  What the hell, Michelle?  _You_  came up to  _me_  yesterday. You don't just drop a sentence like that on someone and expect them to go on merrily with their life." She wasn't even trying to keep quiet now; the anger that had built up over the day was finally released and Michelle happened to be the person it was for. Yet, the curly-haired girl seemed unaffected as she calmly washed her hands.

"Excuse me," Michelle said, walking past Adelaide to grab a paper towel. Adelaide stood in front of the dispenser.

"No. Don't do that. You have to tell me everything you know," Adelaide demanded. Michelle gave her a hard look. Adelaide sighed.

" _Please_." It was Michelle's turn to sigh as she turned away, drying her hands on her pants. For a long, anxious moment, Michelle stood there with her back to Adelaide while Adelaide impatiently waited for the girl the say something.

"I told you everything I know." Adelaide laughed involuntarily. The sound was unexpected in a conversation like this.

"No, you didn't. You know more."

"Adelaide."

"Michelle." It was silent again between the two until Adelaide sighed. Suddenly, a blonde-headed girl walked into the bathroom, looking at Adelaide and then at Michelle. Adelaide began tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the girl to leave. She took her time in the bathroom and then what seemed like 20 minutes to wash her hands. The blonde kept glancing at the other two girls with curious eyes and Adelaide internally groaned. Could she be any more slower?

"We were just breaking up," Adelaide told her as the girl lingered by the door to watch them. At the statement, the blonde's eyes grew wide and she quickly walked out the door. Finally. Adelaide turned to Michelle's back, wondering how she was supposed to convince this girl to spill her secrets.

"Look, Michelle, I don't know why you told me what you did, but if you trusted me once, you can trust me again." Michelle didn't answer for so long, Adelaide almost thought she wasn't going to. Then:

"I had to tell someone what I saw, but I didn't want to tell the NYPD," she said. Adelaide was all ears now and she carefully took a step forward.

"What did you see?" she asked quietly. In the mirror, Adelaide saw Michelle's shoulders slumping.

"I was in the library when it happened. I saw a man, dragging Coach Ross' body in a body bag. I know, because I saw his shoes sticking out. The man was holding a knife that still had blood on it. I didn't see his face, but he was wearing janitor's pants," she said, turning around, "That's all I know. Now will you stop bothering me?" Adelaide nodded, too shocked to speak. She stared at the floor where Michelle was standing as the girl walked out of the bathroom, seemingly in a rush to leave. Adelaide leaned against the wall, thinking. She still had so many questions, but she knew Michelle wasn't going to answer them whether she knew the answers or not. There was only one way to find the truth.

Adelaide would have to get the answers herself.

* * *

The gym was surprisingly silent. Ever since the assembly, people had tried to avoid coming here as much as possible for obvious reasons. The school hadn't been able to find a coach to replace Coach Ross yet, so they were making do with a substitute teacher who really didn't know how to coach at all. Now, everybody just aimlessly walked around the gym during class. The substitute, Coach Stiles, was a lanky guy and he only emerged from his office to take roll. And that was only if he remembered to do it.

Adelaide made herself invisible before walking through the gym doors, just to be safe even though there was not one person here. It wasn't just the students who were avoiding this place. Only couple overhead lights were on and since there were no windows in the gym, it was kind of dark, making the gym look slightly eerie. Finally, Adelaide made her way to the teacher's lounge. It was marked off by several yellow 'DO NOT CROSS' tapes, but Adelaide ignored them. She needed to find the truth and she wasn't resting until she did. Quietly as possible, she twisted open the door which was left stupidly unlocked. The NYPD put a million tapes and signs to shield the door, but they didn't think about locking it. Shaking her head, Adelaide walked inside.

Inside, the room was pitch black. She fumbled for a light switch and then the room lit up, row by row. It was a rather narrow room, but excessively long. It probably crossed the length of the gym. She closed the door behind her. Her heart was beating twice as fast and her stomach was tying itself into knot after knot. Adelaide forced herself to stay calm and focus. She was here to look for clues, not get distracted by her extremely loud heartbeat that was pounding in her ears. Michelle had said the man had a knife which meant he had stabbed Coach Ross. Adelaide began searching through the room, looking for anything that screamed murder. She looked in the cabinets, under the desks, and even in the fridge. Whoever had killed Coach Ross was a professional and he didn't leave behind a single clue. Then, her eyes landed on a file cabinet which was left slightly ajar. There was a piece of paper sticking out of it and as Adelaide picked it out, she realized it was covered in blood. She let out a small scream, dropping it.

For a moment, she leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and tried to get her hands to stop shaking. Then, being extra careful, she bent over and picked the paper up again. How had the NYPD missed this? With shaky hands, she unfolded the paper, being careful to avoid touching the blood. In the note, there were only two words that instilled fear into Adelaide's bones beyond imagination.

_Stop looking._

From that moment on, Adelaide couldn't think of anything but the murder and who had done it. It haunted her like a ghost. Yet, ever since then, she was too terrified to even look for answers. And after a month without answers or even clues, Adelaide decided that it was really time to stop searching. The NYPD had given up already. A month later, Adelaide had officially given up, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's this character that I AM SO EXCITED for in Age of Ultron and he/she is probably gonna end up being like Adie's best friend (after Peter and Ned, of course). Bet you can't guess who...


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Age of Ultron! Finally! I honestly had so much fun writing this with half my screen playing the clip from the movie and the other half with word as I wrote the dialogue. So this chapter came a little late, but I finished writing it on my phone yesterday as I was in bed and then I couldn't upload it from my phone and then I didn't get a hold of my laptop all morning until just now so I'm writing this author's not really fast just so I can get the chapter up. But, to make up for it there's a lotttt of stuff going on in this chapter. For one, we get to see Pepper go mom mode again and a little bit of Irondad. A certain uncle makes an appearance. Flash is...well, he's just Flash. There's other people, but I'm just trying to get this up like I said. I haven't really edited it, but let's hope it's alright.
> 
> This chapter is mainly a lot of short scenes because there was so much that I wanted to put in the chapter, but then I couldn't fit it all so it kinda just ended up being a collection of short scenes and a really long chapter. Oops. And, like I mentioned in the previous chapter, there were some climaxes that I was building that I kind of had to end up putting on hold for now, but let's hope the transition is smooth enough that it's not that noticeable. This chapter is set about a month after the whole Coach Ross fiasco (which, just a side note, they haven't found a replacement for him yet). Anyway, next chapter is just gonna be the Avengers and Adelaide so yay.
> 
> Also, can I just say WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE CAP!

* * *

_"Language!"_

* * *

It was a very rainy day in New York. Well, more like a rainy week. It had been raining constantly all week long and Adelaide was getting tired of all the gray outside. It was making her sick. She had gotten a  _very_  small cold a couple days ago, but she didn't dare sniffle around Pepper or that woman was going to stick Adelaide in bed and keep her there until she wasn't sick anymore. Adelaide shivered at the thought and maybe from her cold. She couldn't imagine having to stay in bed all day.

"Adelaide! You're gonna be late for school!" Pepper yelled from the kitchen. Just as she was about to zip up her backpack, she sneezed, causing everything to fall to the floor. Groaning, Adelaide bent over to stuff everything into her backpack again. This day was proving to be very annoying. As she was standing up, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Wow, she looked terrible. Pepper was never going to let her leave the Tower if she showed up like this. Adelaide used a little light coming from the window to lessen the red on her nose and make herself look a little more awake. There. All fixed.

"Adelaide!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she shouted, dragging herself out of her room. She realized her voice sounded very nasal which would be a big giveaway. Her powers couldn't fix that. Pepper emerged from the kitchen, two cups of coffee in her hand. She handed one to Adelaide who was so grateful to be able to hold something warm. Pepper tilted her head, curiously studying the teenager. There was something…different about her this morning.

"Are your eyes…glowing?" she asked. Adelaide's eyes grew wide. Crap. She'd completely forgotten about that. Adelaide shook her head quickly. If she talked, then her voice would definitely give her away. She couldn't say a word. Not entirely convinced, Pepper went to grab her raincoat and Adelaide headed towards the door. Just before her hand could reach the doorknob, Pepper stopped her. Adelaide closed her eyes, cursing at how hard it was to hide a cold. Slowly, the teenager turned around with one eyebrow raised in question.

"I'm coming with you today," Pepper said, "I have a meeting and it's down the same road Happy's taking you." Adelaide suppressed a groan. Did she have to have her meeting today of all days? Pepper ruffled her hair.

"What's the frown for?" she asked, amused. Adelaide shrugged and then headed out the door leaving Pepper feeling very confused as she followed after her. Teenagers could be a headache to figure out. All the way until they reached Midtown Middle, Adelaide struggled to keep her mouth shut and ignore and sneeze that was trying to blow her cover. It was harder than she thought it would be. Finally, they arrived at Midtown and Adelaide had never been happier to see the dump. The car had barely stopped before Adelaide was stumbling out of it, hauling her backpack and umbrella behind her.

"Bye Pep! Bye Happs!" she said over her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize what just happened and she froze on the sidewalk. So close. Slowly, she turned around, seeing Pepper's eyebrow raised. There was a small smirk on her face and Adelaide knew her cover was blown. Adelaide dropped the illusion on her face, sighing. Her nose was probably shining red like a lightbulb.

"So that's why you haven't said a word to me all morning," Pepper said, "Get back in, we're going home right now."

"But –"

"Adelaide." Adelaide realized Pepper wasn't going to budge so she turned around and bolted up the stairs and into the school while Pepper shouted behind her. Adelaide relaxed when she saw the black car rolling away through the window. A second later, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she fished it out with one hand while holding the umbrella in the other. It was a message from Pepper, not so surprisingly.

_Pepper: Don't think you've won._

Rolling her eyes, Adelaide slipped the phone back into her pocket. As she was putting her umbrella into a plastic bag, Peter and Ned approached her.

"Hey Adelaide," Ned said, holding onto his backpack straps. Adelaide opened her mouth to reply when she sneezed instead. She shook her head.

"черт возьми. Sorry," she mumbled, "I'm just really…"

"Sick," Peter finished. "Here." He handed her a tissue from a packet, but she took the whole packet instead.

"Thanks," she said, wiping her nose. Ned and Peter shared a worried look that Adelaide noticed from the corner of her eye. Just as Peter was about to open his mouth, Adelaide beat him to it.

"No, I'm not going back home. It's just a runny nose. I'll be fine," she said. It was just a stupid cold. It would go away soon. She couldn't be controlled by a measly cold. Just then, the bell rang and everybody began rushing to class. Adelaide had English on the second floor while the other two had PE on the first floor.

"Have fun doing nothing in PE," she said as she walked past them and up the stairs. Her feet felt like jelly and she was barely able to hold her own weight up. Somehow, she made to English. Adelaide felt like she could fall asleep standing if she closed her eyes. Instead, she dragged herself to her desk and dropped her backpack onto the floor. She pulled out the packet of tissues Peter had given her and blew her nose, catching the attention of the curly-haired girl sitting next to her. She looked up from her book accusingly, as if Adelaide was disturbing her more than Flash bragging about himself in the front of the room.

"I'm not sick," she told her with a nasal voice. She sneezed. Michelle raised an eyebrow and then went back to reading. Adelaide rolled her eyes and blew her nose again. Over the past month, the two girls had silently gone back to their old habits where they ignored each other most of the time. The incident was behind them and they both tried to avoid it as much as possible. It was not a good memory in Adelaide's mind and Michelle felt the same way.

Mrs. Goodall appeared in front of the class with that annoying smile that Adelaide so badly wanted to smack off her face. No one could always be that smiley all the time. She clapped her hands and the class fell silent.

"Everyone, please take out your homework from last night and leave it on your desk. I will come by and pick it up." Adelaide groaned. She forgot to do the homework again. In fact, there might have been only one or two times that she actually had remembered to do her English homework, but unluckily, this was not one of those times. Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't done her Algebra homework either. Great. For the rest of the class, Adelaide worked on Algebra while Mrs. Goodall gave another extremely boring lecture about sentence structure. If it wasn't for the incomplete homework, Adelaide would've just taken a nap. When the bell rang again, Adelaide was bolting out the door when Mrs. Goodall stopped her.

"Miss Rivers, please try to remember to do the homework for tonight," she said. Adelaide sneezed in response and Mrs. Goodall ushered her out of the room, mumbling something about germs. Rolling her eyes, Adelaide hitched her backpack higher up on her shoulder and headed to her next class. God, she hoped there wasn't any more homework that she had forgotten about. She sneezed again.

* * *

At lunch time, Adelaide was barely hungry. Her taste buds were dead and she felt like anything she would eat would come right back up. Not to mention the headache that was making a debut behind her eyes wasn't helping her situation. She plopped down in front of Peter and Ned who seemed to be in a heavy discussion about something. Well, someone.

"Only a few more months until we get to meet Liz again," Ned said excitedly, causing Adelaide to raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Peter said dreamily, "I can't wait." Adelaide sneezed, making the two boys turn to look at her. The faraway look in Peter's eye disappeared as he caught sight of his friend's impossibly blue eyes. Even though she was sick, her eyes hadn't dimmed. He pushed up his glasses as Adelaide coughed.

"Who's Liz?" she asked, drinking a sip of her water. Whoever she was, she had Peter completely under her spell.

"Liz Allan is one of the most smartest, prettiest, nicest, stylish —" Adelaide cut Ned off.

"Okay. I get it. She's perfect," Adelaide mumbled through her nasal voice. Ned nodded in agreement. Over the past month, Ned hadn't seen Adelaide with Happy Hogan again, although she did come to school in the same black car. He didn't see Adelaide with Tony Stark or Pepper Potts again and when he'd asked her about the surprise where he and Peter would get to meet Mr. Stark, she'd said 'Tony's a busy guy, but my uncle's trying his best to get an appointment.' That was a few weeks ago and he hadn't heard anything since then. He had decided that she wasn't lying and her uncle would get the appointment soon.

"She's better than perfect," Peter mumbled, sounding dreamy again. Adelaide rolled her eyes. Boys. She snapped her fingers in front of him, catching his attention again. She pulled out her algebra homework and laid it on the table. Adelaide squinted at it, but it just looked like scribbles to her. She couldn't even read her own handwriting.

"I need you to check my homework," she told him as she shifted through her backpack for a pencil. Peter sighed.

"I'm not doing your homework for you again, Ada." Adelaide looked shocked.

"Again? When was the first time you did it?" He shrugged, pushing his glasses up. His habit was starting to get annoying for some reason.

"Take a guess."

"Okay, okay. So you've helped me a couple — at lot — of times, but I'm not asking you to do it for me," she argued, "I just need you to check it. I've already done it."

"Ada, you've answered 2 questions. And," he studied them, skimming through, "they're both wrong." Huh. She could've sworn she'd done more problems. English had definitely lasted longer than two math problems. Maybe it was the nap she ended up taking…

"So you're going to refuse to help a sick person?" she asked innocently. There was no other way to get out of this. She sneezed for the effect, although it just happened to be perfectly timed. Peter sighed again .

"Fine. I'll show you how to do it," he mumbled. She shrugged, considering it.

"Deal," she said.

After the bell rang to signal the end of lunch, the three teenagers walked together to their Algebra class when (not so surprisingly) Flash stopped them. They were just walking past him when Adelaide heard him fake a sneeze. She stopped, turning around.

"Mrs. Goodall," he mocked to his friends, "I'm so sick I can't do my homework." Adelaide's hands turned into fists as she slowly turned around. Ned and Peter shared a worried glance. Not for Adelaide, but for Flash. If there was one person in the this school who wasn't afraid of Flash Thompson it was Adelaide. In fact, the two boys realized that they couldn't think of anything that Adelaide was afraid of.

"Do you wanna say that again?" she asked Flash. Her voice was cold and collected. It would have been less terrifying if she had yelled at him. Yet Flash wasn't intimidated. Instead, he laughed.

"Yeah, I said you're so sick you never –" Adelaide had him shoved up against a locker before he even finished his sentence. Flash started to look a little panicked, but he tried to keep it off his face. Adelaide had had a pretty shitty day with her cold and taking it out on Flash never felt better. Besides, he was always asking for it. Right now, she was just giving him what he deserved. Adelaide realized there was a small crowd that had formed around them, but she was too angry to care. Who was he to make fun of her?

"Do you wanna say that again?" she repeated. Her voice was almost a whisper, but they halls were so silent, everybody heard it. Flash glared at her. How dare she humiliate him?

"Yeah," he said, "I said you're so sick –" She punched his jaw and then dropped him onto the floor.

"Wrong answer," she said before walking away. Peter and Ned hurried after her as the bell rang and the crowd dispersed. Flash sat there, angry and humiliated. He gingerly touched the place where she had punched him and winced. He gritted his teeth, feeling a bruise coming onto his jaw. She wouldn't get away with embarrassing him.

* * *

Adelaide sneezed, pushing open the doors to the penthouse. After her fight with Flash, she'd been called into the counselor's office and was warned to never do something like that again or he would have to call her guardians blah, blah, blah…Adelaide couldn't care less what that bald guy threatened. If Flash was going pick on her, then she was going to make sure they were even. It was only fair.

When she walked into the kitchen, she noticed that there was someone else sitting on the island with Tony.

"Bruce?" she asked, making him turn around. He waved.

"Hey Adelaide," he said, "How are you doing?" She raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, glancing at Tony, who was messing with something on his phone.

"It's nice to see you, too," Bruce replied. Adelaide rolled her eyes, grabbing a couple chocolates from the fridge and sitting across from him on the island.

"Seriously," she said, "What are you doing here?" She glanced at Tony and then back at Bruce. "Is there something going on...?"

"Well, actually Tony and I were just talking about –"

"Actually," Tony interrupted, "Bruce and I were just talking about technical stuff. Nothing you would understand." Adelaide rolled her eyes, sneezing again.

"Whatever," she mumbled, taking her chocolates and leaving the kitchen. As soon as she entered her room, Adelaide left the chocolates on her table, made herself invisible, and quietly opened her door just enough to let herself step out without making any noise. Then, she silently tiptoed into the kitchen, leaning against the wall farthest from the island.

"So what do we do now?" Bruce asked quietly. Tony stood up.

"We go and get the scepter," Tony said it like it was obvious. Adelaide raised her eyebrows. Scepter? As in Loki's scepter? Like the one he used to mind control SHIELD agents?

"Where's the rest of the team?" Bruce asked after a while. Tony turned back to him.

"Hill already called everybody. All we have to do is go get it." Go where?

"Tony, you're saying it like we can just walk in and then walk out." Tony raised an eyebrow, indicating that that was exactly what he meant and Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Banner. How hard can it be? It's just another HYDRA base. We've taken so many of those idiots down before." A HYDRA base? So that meant that HYDRA was in possession of the scepter. Adelaide felt a quick, sharp pain in her head, but just shrugged it off as part of the cold. She was beginning to get sick of being sick.

"If what Hill said is true, then Stucker's used the scepter to create powerful weapons. Tony, we have no idea what we're up against. And what about the human experimentation?" Bruce argued. Tony rolled his eyes in response. Human experimentation? They used the scepter to experiment on humans? Adelaide remembered seeing the scepter on tv before. That thing looked way too powerful to be used on humans. Briefly, Adelaide wondered if it had been successful. Was it even legal? Probably not.

"Then we'll destroy those weapons, too. Kaboom!" Tony said, clapping his hands together. Bruce did not look amused. Suddenly, Adelaide felt a sneeze coming. She frantically tried to stop it, but…

"Achoo!" She lost her focus and made herself visible again. The two men gave her an amused look.

"Why am I not surprised? How long have you been there?" Tony said. Adelaide rolled her eyes, grabbing a tissue from the table.

"You have to let me come with you. By the way, where is the base anyway?" she asked, taking a seat at the island as she blew her nose into the tissue. Bruce glanced at Tony.

"It's in Sokovia and Pepper would kill us if I let you come," Tony said. She had to go with them. This was the Avengers they were talking about. Adelaide could already see herself fighting alongside them. She would finally be able to put her powers to good use. She had been waiting for something like this ever since she discovered her powers – it was the perfect opportunity.

"Pepper's not going to say no," Adelaide said confidently. Tony raised his eyebrow in response.

* * *

"No."

"But I can help them!" Adelaide protested. Pepper rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes.

"Adelaide, you're 13," Pepper said. Why was that always a problem? Yeah she was thirteen, but she had powers that not every 13 year old had. And she could take care of herself. Not to mention, she was somehow an expert in combat.

"Come on, Pepper. I haven't left the Tower ever since I got here. This could be good for me," Adelaide said.

"Don't emotionally blackmail me," Pepper snapped and then sighed, "It's too dangerous. You're still very sick and it's cold in Sokovia."

"How much more sick am I gonna get?" Adelaide said. Pepper gave her a look and Adelaide felt herself losing the argument. She tried one last attempt to change her mind.

"Please?" It was feeble and probably did nothing, but Adelaide said it with desperation. She could already picture herself fighting alongside the Avengers, kicking ass. A grin tugged at her lips. It would be amazing.

"I'm sorry, Adelaide," Pepper said, standing up from the sofa and ruffling her hair. Adelaide frowned, putting it back into place. "It's just not worth you getting hurt."

Before Adelaide could protest, Pepper was had disappeared into her room, leaving Adelaide to sulk alone. She sneezed again, feeling a headache coming. She could barely keep her eyes open and the tv was starting to look blurry. Pepper was right. She was way too sick to kick ass. In fact, she'd probably get her own ass kicked. Groaning, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She heard the sound of feet shuffling through carpet and then she felt the leather sofa dip next to her. Without opening her eyes, she knew it was Tony.

"If you came here to say 'I told you so', don't even think about it," she mumbled, her eyes still closed. She heard him sighing.

"Fine," he said, "I won't say that." Silence. Then, a moment later: "I told you so." She rolled her eyes, turning her head to face him. He was holding back a smile.

"Sorry," he said, smiling, "I just love being right. Which I am most the time anyway."

"When's the rest of the team coming?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Tomorrow." Adelaide nodded, closing her eyes again. They were starting to droop and she let them. Suddenly, she felt very tired. A yawn escaped her.

"Just be safe, Tony," she mumbled, feeling herself falling asleep. She heard him laugh lightly, but it seemed distant now.

"Safe's my middle name," he said. A moment later, she felt herself being carried to her room by a pair of warm arms. They gently laid her on her bed and pulled off her shoes one by one. Then, she was covered with her blanket and the lights turned off.

"Night kid."

* * *

_April 28, 2015_

By the time she woke up the next morning (afternoon, really), she'd learned that the Avengers had come and were already gone. Pepper forced her stay home from school that day, but Adelaide surprisingly felt much better after waking up. She was still sneezing every now and then, but the headache and itchy eyes were gone. Even then, it was too late to join the Avengers now and they were probably already halfway to Sokovia. She would just have to wait and watch. And that's exactly what she did. Pepper had decided to stay home to watch Adelaide so it was just the two of them in the penthouse. Of course, Adelaide hogged the tv, watching for any news about the team or Tony in particular. Pepper didn't argue and anxiously watched along with her.

When it was lunchtime, the two of them ordered pizza and Pepper called one of the Iron Man suits to bring it up to them. By 4 in the afternoon, there was still no news broadcasting about the Avengers in Sokovia. Adelaide was starting to wonder if this was supposed to be a secret mission when her phone suddenly rang.

"Hey Pete," she said.

 _"Hey Ada. Feeling any better?"_  She shrugged.

"A little. How was school? Did I miss another big homework assignment from Mr. Stevenson because if I did then don't tell me so I can just say that I didn't know about it." Pepper gave her a disapproving look from beside her to which Adelaide grinned in response. She heard Peter chuckle.

 _"Actually, he did give a homework assignment,"_  he said. She suddenly had the urge to smack him on the head.

"I told you not to–"

 _"Relax, Ada,"_  he said, stopping her before she said any colorful words, "I'm talking about the one he gave yesterday. You haven't done it, have you?" She exhaled, annoyed. On the tv, there was a picture of a car hanging from the side of a cliff with someone stuck inside. She squinted at the headlines. No one got hurt. She fiddled with the zipper on the pillow.

"No," she mumbled, "I haven't."

 _"That's what I thought,"_  he said. She could hear the smile in his voice. Adelaide frowned. In the background, she could hear May shouting something from far away. She heard some shuffling on Peter's end.

 _"It's just Ada,"_  she heard him tell May. Then some more indistinctive shouting.

 _"May says hi,"_  Peter told her, making her smile.

"Tell her I said hi," Adelaide told him. Some more shuffling and the sound of a door opening.

 _"Ada says hi,"_  he shouted to May. Then she heard some more yelling.

 _"Ben says hi, too,"_  Peter said. Adelaide grinned.

"Tell Ben I said hi too," she replied. She heard Peter groan and then the sound of feet shuffling.

 _"She said hi to you too."_  Adelaide heard more yelling.  _"What? No, May. I'm not gonna be your messenger."_  She heard the sound of a door closing loudly.

"Hey, Pete?"

_"Yeah?"_

"Can you tell May–"

 _"No!"_  Adelaide laughed.

"Okay, fine, I'll stop," she said. The two were quiet for a while and Adelaide stared at the tv. Now, there were news about a stray kitten getting stuck in the tree. The screen switched to the firefighters rolling up with their sirens wailing. Adelaide rolled her eyes. Had they started to run out of news?

 _"Well,"_  Peter said,  _"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know, since you didn't come to school and stuff."_  Adelaide tried to hold back a smile, but failed. For some reason, she was smiling brightly. She cleared her throat, shaking herself out of it.

"Thanks. I'm feeling much better," she said.

 _"I guess I'll see you tomorrow,"_  he said after a while.

"Bye Pete."

 _"Bye Ada."_  After hanging up, Adelaide looked up to find Pepper staring at her with a hint of a smile on her face. Adelaide raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What?" Pepper smiled, shaking her head.

"Nothing," she told the teenager, ruffling her hair and making her frown, "Get some rest. I'll wake you up if there's anything on the news." Adelaide suddenly realized how tired she felt. Who knew watching tv could be so exhausting? She could use a quick nap…maybe only for 10 minutes, but no longer. She had to watch the tv for any news. The teenager closed her eyes and was softly asleep in seconds.

* * *

_SOKOVIA_

Tony veered around all the blasts coming from the weapons, trying to find his way into the base and get the scepter while the rest of the team fended off Strucker's pawns. He approached the building, deciding to just break in. It wasn't like they were going to be charged for destroying property. He hoped one the bricks would fall from the ceiling and hit Strucker right on the head. That would certainly make their job a whole lot easier. Instead, when he hit the roof at full speed, a strange energy force caused him to bounce off.

"Shit!" he cursed.

"Language!" Steve yelled through the earpiece, "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," JARVIS replied, "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken." On the ground, Thor fought off several agents using his hammer as a weapon. It was almost too easy.

"Loki's scepter must be here," Thor said with his thick Asgardian accent, reaching out for his hammer, "Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it." He moved aside just in time to let his hammer knock out the agent behind him. "At long last."

"At long last is lasting a little long, boys," Natasha said after taking down two agents at once and then shooting down a third.

"Yeah," Clint agreed, firing an arrow from behind the shelter of a tree, "I think we lost the element of surprise."

"Wait a second," Tony interjected, flying around the building for a way in, "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"

"I know," Steve said, steering through the muddy snow on his motorbike. His eyes fell on the enemy car racing towards him. In a heartbeat, he flipped off his bike, and chucked it at the car, causing it to topple over. He let out a breath. "Just slipped out."

Suddenly, the agents turned their bunkers around and began firing at the city, hurting innocent civilians.

"Sir, the city is taking fire," JARVIS informed. Explosions erupted around the city and people scrambled for shelter. Tony scanned the scene.

"Well, we know Strucker's not gonna worry about civilian casualties," he mumbled with a small sigh, "Send in the Iron Legion." In an instant, the Iron Legion flew in and unsuccessfully began ordering the civilians to step back, take cover.

Back on the battle field, Clint was running from tree to tree, firing arrows at every agent that crossed his path. As he took shelter behind another tree, a certain sound caught his attention. Another shooter. He grabbed one of his arrows, and shot at the shooter when suddenly, there was a quick flash of blue that was gone before Clint even registered it. He ducked behind the tree, scanning the area. What the hell was that? Thinking fast, he swiped another arrow and aimed it once again. Seemingly out of nowhere, something ran into him, knocking him over. He fell to the ground, rolling in the snow. Groaning, he stood up carefully. A boy with white hair and an  _annoying_  smirk walked past him calmly, as if nothing had happened. Clint studied him curiously.

"You didn't see that coming?" the boy said and then sped away before Clint could even aim at him with his arrow. He was watching the path where the boy had sped down when another shooter fired at him, hitting his side. He fell to the ground in pain.

"Clint!" Natasha shouted when she saw him fall down. She began running to him. Steve could hear her shout through his earpiece. As he was about to respond, something ran into him, making him flip through the air. He landed gracefully on his knee and quickly scanned the woods. Something was different. This wasn't the normal weapons that they'd been firing. Suddenly, the super soldier remembered Hill telling him about the human experimentation Strucker had done with the scepter. He stood up quickly.

"We have an enhanced in the field," he said into his earpiece.

"Clint's hit!" Natasha shouted. She ran up to him and began covering his wound, trying to stop the blood from flowing. The bunker mercilessly shot, just barely missing them with each shot.

"Somebody wanna deal with that bunker?" she asked into her earpiece, breathless. Hulk came roaring and ran right through it, effectively dealing with the bunker.

"Thank you," Natasha said.

"Stark," Steve said, knocking down four agents with his shield, "we really need to get inside."

"I'm closing in," Tony replied as he landed on the building. He knocked out two agents with his suit. "JARVIS am I closing in?" Another agent. "You see a power source for that shield?"

"There's a pathway, above the north tower," JARVIS replied.

"Great I wanna poke it with something." He flew up to the north tower, shooting beams from his suit at the power source twice. Almost instantly, the shield around the building fell.

"Drawbridge is down, people."

In the woods, Thor brought his hammer to the ground, knocking out several agents. He noticed Steve running up to him from the corner of his eye.

"The enhanced?" Thor asked him.

"He's a blur," Steve replied, "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac," said Natasha. Thor nodded.

"I can get Barton on the jet. Sooner we're gone, the better," the god said, "You and Stark secure the scepter."

"Copy that," Steve said. Then, his eyes fell on the large group of agents with a bunker running towards them. He shared a knowing look with the god.

"It's like they're lining up," Thor said, lifting his hammer. Steve tilted his head to the side, holding up his shield.

"Well, they're excited." Thor slammed his hammer on Steve's shield, creating a force that knocked down all of them at the same time. Thor took a step back, making room for his getaway.

"Find the scepter," he told Steve, raising his hammer and flying away along with it.

"And for gosh sake, watch your language," Tony said. Steve looked down at the snow, sighing.

"That's not going away anytime soon," he mumbled, shaking his head.

* * *

_THE STARK TOWER, 3 A.M._

Adelaide was startled awake by the sound of footsteps.

In the darkness, it took her a second to adjust to her surroundings. She had fallen asleep on the sofa. There was a blanket covering her and a soft pillow under her head. The teenager rubbed her face, pulling back the stray locks fallen from her ponytail. Her eyes fell on the ginger-haired woman who had fallen asleep with her head on the other side of the sofa. She was curled up into a fetus position, obviously cold and there was no pillow under her head. Adelaide stood up with her pillow and blanket, placing them on Pepper who grabbed the blanket in her sleep, pulling it closer to her.

"You know, that's ineffective. Now you're gonna be cold."

Adelaide whipped around, squinting in the dark at the silhouette. She didn't have to see him to know it was Tony. He hadn't even been back for a minute and was already throwing sarcastic remarks at her. She rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face. The billionaire gestured at the silent tv that was still broadcasting news.

"So you can watch that in your sleep? Now that's a superpower," he said, taking a seat. She sat down beside him, fighting back a yawn. Who knew a good sleep would make you more tired?

"Did you get it?" she asked.

"Yeah, turns out Sokovians don't sell burgers. What a rip off, right?" She smacked his arm.

"I meant the scepter."

"Oh, right that thing. Yeah," he said, smiling now, "We got it." Adelaide grinned.

"What about the rest of the team? Are they gone?"

"No, I think they're gonna stick around here for a while. Barton took a hit." Tony thought how, in some way, he'd taken a hit too. He had seen everyone there…dead. The words Captain had said still haunted him at the back of his mind.

_You could've saved us._

He remembered seeing Adelaide there, bleeding out. Her face had been so pale, so ghostly. He wanted to get rid of that memory or whatever it had been. He didn't need that on his conscious.

"I'm glad you stayed home," he told Adelaide. She frowned.

"Why?" He stood up ruffling her hair.

"Because you're 13." Adelaide groaned, ready to smack him in the head, but was already gone. Rolling her eyes to herself, she stood up and walked into the kitchen, deciding to make a cup of coffee. She wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon.

So, until it was time to leave for school, Adelaide watched the crappy news on tv (Which, by the way, they finally aired the news about the Avengers in Sokovia.) and finished two cups of strong black coffee sitting next to Pepper on the sofa well knowing that she would disapprove.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really was fun to write and all the Avengers are in it.
> 
> Anyway, I just want to point out that the quote at the beginning of the chapter is a quote from that chapter, if that was a little confusing lol.

* * *

_**"** Pepper's going to kill_

_you_ _for letting_ _this happen. **"**_

* * *

"Are you sure he's gonna be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together," Natasha said, observing the machine with narrowed eyes. Clint gave her a look to which she smirked to in response.

"There's no possibility of deterioration," Dr. Cho reassured, "The nano-molecular technology is instantaneous. His cells don't know their bonding with simulacra." Bruce shook his head, amazed.

"She is  _creating_  tissue," he said.

"That is…incredible," Adelaide said, watching as the machine seeming made new cells to heal Clint's wound. She'd seen Tony's machine do a lot of things, but they never made skin. The teenager didn't miss the proud smile on Dr. Cho's face.

"If you brought him to my lab, the Regeneration Cradle could do this in 20 minutes," Dr. Cho said.

"Oh, he's flat-lining. Call it. Time?" Tony said, walking into the lab with a drink in hand. Adelaide rolled her eyes, straightening up from the machine.

"No, no, no. I'm gonna live forever," Clint said from his bed. He laughed lightly. "I'm gonna be made of plastic." Tony walked past Adelaide to the archer. Adelaide grabbed her backpack from the floor, slinging it around one shoulder. The Avengers or not, Pepper said she still had to go to school.

"Here's your beverage," the billionaire said, handing Clint the drink in his hand. He looked up at Adelaide. "Happy's honking like madman downstairs." Adelaide rolled her eyes, holding up her hands in surrender.

"I'm going," she said.

"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference," Dr. Cho said with a smile.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Clint replied, sipping his drink. Dr. Cho let out a breath.

"That, I can't fix," she said, turning around. Natasha caught Adelaide's eye from across the room, a smirk on her face.

"So you go to school now?" Natasha asked mockingly, gesturing to the backpack hanging on the teenager's shoulder. Adelaide rolled her eyes for what might have the 100th time just this morning. "You got a boyfriend yet?"

"You bet she doesn't," Tony said, jutting in. She ignored him.

"No," she told the assassin, "I don't have a boyfriend." Natasha smirked.

"You know, I know a couple things about flirting," she told the teenager. Adelaide smirked.

"Do you show him your amazing martial arts skills and make him run far away? That sounds like a foolproof plan," the teenager retorted, making the redhead laugh. Tony made a sizzling sound.

"She got you, Romanoff," he said, looking at the machine working Clint's wound. "You know, I thought this would be done by now."

"This, is the next thing, Tony," Dr. Cho said, "You're clunky metal suits will be left in the dust." Natasha smirked at the billionaire.

"She got you, Stark," she retorted. Tony rolled his eyes at her.

"That is exactly the plan," he told the doctor, "And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday." Adelaide raised an eyebrow at him. Since when was he throwing a party? She hadn't heard about a party.

"Unlike you," Dr. Cho began, "I don't have a lot of time for parties." Tony raised his eyebrows as the doctor began reading her clipboard. He glanced at Adelaide, imitating an exaggerated honking action and the teenager rolled her eyes.

"I'm gone," she said, taking a step back. She caught Natasha's eye.

"When do I get to meet him?" the redhead asked. Adelaide grinned.

"Never." She turned around and began walking out of the lab. Like she would ever get a boyfriend. Who would she even date? Flash? Peter? Yeah, right, she thought, laughing to herself. As she pushed open the glass doors, she heard Dr. Cho clear her throat behind her.

"Will…Thor…be there?" she asked. Adelaide smiled, shaking her head. Then, she quickly rushed downstairs before Happy alerted the whole city of her lateness with his honking.

* * *

At Midtown Middle, their classes were usually an hour long. Yet, somehow, Mr. Stevenson's class seemed to drag on for three. Adelaide watched the second hand ticking on the clock hanging on the wall. It was definitely slower than usual. She should tell him to get it checked out. Besides, nobody liked his class anyway. Well, besides Peter the math whiz.

"Did you see the news?" Ned asked Peter in a hushed voice.

"About the Avengers? Of course!" Peter whisper-yelled.

"Man, they are  _so_  cool. I wish I could meet them." If only they knew…

"I wanna shake Mr. Stark's hand," Peter said, "And then I'd try to lift Mr. Thor's hammer and maybe even hold Captain America's shield." Adelaide rolled her eyes. No one could lift Thor's hammer besides Thor. She had already tried. Thor had told her it was because she wasn't worthy enough, but she begged to differ. And as for Captain's shield, well, there wasn't anything special about it. It was a circular piece of strong ( _very_  strong) metal. And shaking Tony's hand…well she'd rather not boost his ego any higher. It was already at a dangerous level.

"Who do you think would win in an arm wrestle? Thor or Captain America?" Ned asked, barely whispering.

"Definitely Captain America," Peter answered. Adelaide thought about it. That was a tough one. Maybe she could get them to test it this evening.

"Yeah, me too," Ned agreed. "What about you, Adelaide? Who do you think would win?" She turned around to face them.

"I don't know. You'd have to see it happen." The two boys nodded in agreement.

"Okay I have another one," Peter said, tapping his pencil against his leg, "Who would win in a fight? Captain America or Iron Man?" Another tough one. Where did they get these questions from? Adelaide had a feeling they spent a  _lot_  of time thinking about these things.

"Eyes up here, please," Mr. Stevenson said, glaring at the three of them from above his glasses. Adelaide turned back around in her chair until Mr. Stevenson faced the board again and then she turned around again.

"I say Captain America," Ned whispered.

"I think it would be Iron Man," Peter said.

"I think I'd have to see it for myself," Adelaide said. It was true. It would be close call.

Mr. Stevenson cleared his throat, annoyed.

"Have you heard that Tony Stark is growing a party this weekend?"

"Just imagine partying with all the Avengers. It would be a dream come true," Peter said.

"Is your uncle invited?" Ned asked Adelaide.

"He, uh, had to go out of town for business so he won't be here for the party," she lied.

"Did  _you_  get an invitation?" Peter asked. Adelaide heard herself laughing.

"No, I didn't," she replied. Funnily enough, Tony hadn't even told her about the party. So technically, that wasn't a lie.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Miss Rivers? Because it certainly seems more important than my lesson," Mr. Stevenson said. The whole class turned to look at her and Adelaide suddenly wished she could make herself invisible right now and then sneak up to Mr. Stevenson and smack him on the head. But she couldn't do that, unfortunately. She opted for a glare which he returned.

"Consider this my final warning," he said, turning back to the board. The moment his back was to her, she turned around again. At this point, she just wanted irritate him.

"You're gonna get in trouble, Ada," Peter whispered. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Let him," she said.

"Okay, but don't blame me," he said, "Anyway, are you still coming over this weekend?" Ever since the first time she had gone to his house to do homework together, it had become a weekly thing. She went almost every other weekend. But she wouldn't be able to make it this weekend because of the party.

"I can't. I have a p– a thing. I have a thing," she said, catching herself just in time. He nodded.

"Next weekend, then?" She shrugged.

"Sure."

Just then, Mr. Stevenson opened his mouth to give Adelaide detention, but then the bell rang and drowned out his voice. The other kids began rushing out of the classroom, grateful for the day to be over. Adelaide rushed out with them, flashing a bright smile at Mr. Stevenson on her way out.

* * *

The party was due to start in half an hour and Tony was still working in his lab. Adelaide went downstairs to drag him out of it, pulling her dress down the whole way. She hated the feeling of wearing a skirt. It felt too…exposing. She'd rather wear jeans, but Pepper had said she would have to dress up for the party. Although, she did like the dress – she had gone shopping with Pepper to pick it out herself. It was red above the waist and black below the belt. The dress looked simple, but Adelaide preferred it over the other glittery and sparkly ones that were hanging next to it at the store. She had made sure to pick out the sharpest black heels, just in case.

Adelaide tapped on the glass door, trying to get Tony's attention, but he was focused on reading some kind of hologram. She twisted the door knob and realized it was open. She pushed the door and walked inside.

"You're going to be late to your own party," she said. He held up his stylus.

"It's called being fashionably late." She rolled her eyes.

"It's called being a terrible host," Adelaide said, walking over to him. He raised an eyebrow at her dress.

"Don't say anything. It was Pepper's idea."

"Sir, T-345 is unsuccessful," JARVIS said, taking the billionaire's attention. Adelaide studied the hologram carefully, but she couldn't make out what was going on. She tilted her head to the side, confused. JARVIS seemed to be…searching for something. The teenager quietly studied the program.

"What did we miss?" Tony mumbled to himself, almost forgetting that Adelaide was there. She glanced at him. There was something different about him. He looked tired. Adelaide realized that she had barely seen him over the past three days, just glimpses. He had locked himself in his lab along with Bruce and who knows what they've been working on. Adelaide wondered if he had even gotten any sleep. He did that sometimes when he was working on a project, lost himself in it. Tony took a step back, looking around the lab at nothing in particular. His mind seemed to be wandering elsewhere.

"I'll continue to run variations on the interface," JARVIS said, "But you should probably prepare for your guests. I'll notify you if there are any developments." The lights began turning off in the lab, one by one.

"Thanks, buddy," Tony said, heading towards the door. Adelaide quietly followed after him, glancing back at JARVIS. What was he searching for?

"Enjoy yourself, sir," JARVIS said.

"I always do," Tony said, closing the door behind himself and the teenager. There was a party they were about to be late to.

* * *

The party was in full swing.

The Avengers were split up on their fun. Steve was playing at the pool table with Sam whilst Thor and Tony were talking with Hill and Rhodey (Adelaide felt weird to call him anything but Rhodey since that's all she'd heard Tony say) at the bar. She was still only 13, but headed over to the bar anyway. She caught Rhodey in the middle of a story. Thor smiled at her as she approached them. He silently handed her a drink which she took without Tony noticing and Thor winked at her. She grinned, bringing the glass up to her lips. Adelaide had no idea what the drink was, but it got her head buzzing instantly.

"But, you know, the suit can take the weight, right?" Rhodey said, grabbing a drink for himself, "So I take the tank, fly it right up to the general's palace, drop it at his feet. I'm like 'Boom. You looking for this?'" He finished with a proud grin while Tony, Thor, and Adelaide shared a look. Tony saw the drink in her hand and he raised his eyebrow. She shrugged, grinning. It was a party. Tony rolled his eyes, turning back to face Rhodey who was not smiling anymore and glancing between Tony and Thor, looking slightly annoyed.

"Boom. Are you looking for th– Why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else, that story kills," he said.

"That's the whole story?" Thor asked.

"Yeah," Rhodey said, "it's a War Machine story."

"Oh, it is very good then," Thor said, laughing lightly, "It's impressive." Adelaide bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at his terrible cover up. Rhodey definitely didn't look too flattered.

"Quality save," Rhodey mumbled, rolling his eyes with a smile, "So no Pepper? She's not coming?" Adelaide thought back to the conversation they had earlier today where she had forced Pepper to come, but she refused, saying she couldn't miss going to work again. It wasn't as fun without her, but Adelaide would just have to make do with no one to stop her from drinking. She got another glass from Thor, really starting to  _feel_  the party. Had the music always been this loud? She took a seat in one of the high chairs, a sloppy grin on her face.

"No," Tony answered with a shake of his head.

"What about Jane? Where are the  _ladies_ , gentlemen?" Hill asked.

"Well, Ms. Potts has a company to run," Tony said. Thor nodded.

"Yes, I'm not even sure what country Jane's in," he said, shrugging, "Her work on the Convergence has made her the world's foremost astronomer."

"And the company that Pepper runs," Tony jutted, "is the largest tech conglomerate on Earth. It's pretty exciting." Adelaide, Hill, and Rhodey shared an amused look.

"There's even talk of Jane getting a Nobel Prize," Thor said proudly.

"Yeah," Hill said and Adelaide could already hear the sarcasm in her voice, "they must be busy because they would hate missing you guys get together." She faked a cough and added, "Testosterone!" Adelaide laughed, leaning against the table. Well, she wasn't wrong.

"Oh, my goodness," Rhodey said, "Want a lozenge?" She nodded, waking away with him and leaving Adelaide to laugh at the two men as they shook their heads at Hill's mocking.

"But Jane's better," Thor added. Shaking her own head, she left the two, walking away with her drink still in hand. She stumbled on her heels for a second before regaining her balance again. Suddenly, Adelaide remembered the conversation she had with Peter and Ned this afternoon about the Avengers. With a grin on her face, she decided to test it out.

Not so long after, there was a crowd forming around Thor and Steve arm wrestling. Everybody was tipsy and laughing way too hard and cheering on the two men loudly. Adelaide was rooting for Thor. Without realizing, she was the loudest. In her defense, it was the alcohol shouting.

"Come on, Thor! You got this!" she yelled, standing right by them. Slowly, Steve's hand began falling and Adelaide whooped.

"Woohoo! Thor Odinson, everybody!" she shouted. But then, Steve gripped his hand harder and slowly pushed it back up. Adelaide slammed the table, focused on the two hands.

"Come on, man. You're a  _god_! You can't lose!" she cheered. Thor grinned at Steve who was gritting his teeth.

"Well," Steve forced, "You're gonna find out what it's like." Thor looked unaffected. He gripped harder, gritting his teeth too. Adelaide narrowed her eyes, leaning closer to see when someone pulled her back into the couch.

"Someone's had too much to drink," Natasha said, smirking. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Whatdoyathink?" she slurred. Suddenly, Steve's hand began falling again. Adelaide bounced back up.

"Let's gooooooo!" she shouted. Thor grinned again.

"Come on, Steve," Natasha cheered from beside the teenager. The two shared a hard look. Tonight, no one wanted to lose. Slowly, Steve's hand came back up and Natasha whooped, clapping.

"Yeah Steve!" the redhead shouted. From the side, Bruce cleared his throat.

"Pepper's going to kill you for letting this happen," Bruce told Tony, talking about Adelaide. He'd let a 13 year old get drunk.

"Yeah, she is," Tony agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "20 bucks on Thor." Bruce looked at him incredulously.

"I'm not betting on –"

"100."

"Deal," Bruce said.

At the table, the arm wrestle was heated and there was no way to tell who was winning. Adelaide was watching with the utmost intensity while she continued to cheer loudly. Natasha cheered just as loudly next to her, encouraging Steve. Somehow, the teenager and redhead had entered a competition of their own. Slowly, Steve's hand began falling again and the whole crowd seemed to begin cheering twice as loud. Adelaide was holding her breath.

And then, Steve's hand hit the table.

"Yesss!" Adelaide shouted, jumping up and down. Steve laughed and hugged Thor, patting his back. Adelaide jumped up onto the table, grabbing Thor's hand and holding it up and waving it around. She was grinning brightly like a lightbulb. In fact, she glanced down, realizing she was slightly glowing like one too. Oops. In the crowd, Bruce begrudgingly slid over a 100 dollar bill to the billionaire who was smirking.

"100 more Pepper kills you for this," Bruce said, making Tony drop his smirk.

"I don't think so," he mumbled, pushing through the crowd to get to the teenager. He shouldn't have let her drink.

"Come on, kid," he said, trying to get her to step down. It took a while, but the teenager finally stepped down, a small pout on her face. She couldn't wait to tell Peter and Ned about the arm wrestle thing tomorrow. She giggled to herself.

After the competition was over, the crowd dispersed and soon, the party had died down, leaving the Avengers behind. They were all seated in the sofas, talking and laughing. Adelaide was sitting on the arm rest next to Natasha. The effect of the alcohol wasn't gone yet, but at least she had stopped glowing.

"But it's a trick," Clint said, talking about Thor's hammer.

"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor said, laughing.

"Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power," Clint mocked, making everybody chuckle. "Whatever man, it's a trick!"

"Please, be my guest," Thor said, gesturing to his hammer on the table. Clint raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Thor nodded.

"This is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey said.

"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony said, pouring himself a drink. Everyone laughed. Clint walked up to the hammer, trying to look macho and Adelaide giggled. He wouldn't be able to pick it up, but it would be funny to watch him try.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint asked Thor who nodded with a knowing smile. He wrapped his hands around it and pulled, groaning, but the hammer didn't even budge. The archer laughed.

"I still don't know how you do it," he said, his voice strained.

"Smell the silent judgement?" Tony asked, smirking. Clint gestured at the hammer.

"Please, Stark, by all means," he said and Tony stood up arrogantly, clearing his throat.

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony said, walking over to the table slowly. He grabbed the hammer. "It's physics. Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?" Thor shrugged, grinning.

"Yes, of course," Thor replied.

"Good luck, Tony," Adelaide shouted just for the heck of it and the billionaire gave her a wink.

"We've got a cheerleader to be, everyone," Tony said and Adelaide rolled her eyes. It was just the booze talking.

"I will be reinstituting prima nocta," he said, gripping the hammer tightly. And then he pulled, groaning quietly. Of course, the hammer didn't move and the billionaire took a step back.

"I'll be right back," he said, disappearing out of the room.

"Where's he going?" Natasha asked, elbowing the teenager. Adelaide shrugged.

"It's Tony," she answered simply and the assassin seemed to agree. A second later, Tony returned with an arm from his Iron Man suit. Adelaide laughed. Of course. He gripped the hammer and pulled with everything that arm had, but no avail. A moment later, Rhodey came back with the arm from his War Machine suit and they both pulled on the handle together as hard as they could.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked, breathing heavily. Tony glared at him.

"Are you on my team?" the billionaire asked.

"Just represent. Pull."

"All right, let's go." Then they both pulled at the same time, but the hammer hardly moved. After that failed attempt, Bruce gave it a go…unsuccessfully. Thor watched them all fail, amused. Then, Steve stood up.

"Go ahead, Steve, no pressure." Steve let out a breath pulled up his sleeves. He gripped the handle with both hands.

"Come on, Cap," Sam encouraged. When Steve pulled, Thor noticed that the hammer moved slightly. Just slightly. His smile dropped. When the super soldier pulled again, it didn't moved and Thor flooded with relief. He laughed nervously.

"Nothing," the god said, sipping his drink as Steve sat back down.

"And, Widow?"

"Come on, Nat," Adelaide said, elbowing her.

"No, no. That's not a question I need answered," she said with a shake of her head.

"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony said and Thor merely shrugged.

"You bet your ass," Clint said.

"Steve, he said a bad language word," Hill said and Steve shook his head, sighing. Adelaide laughed. Natasha had told her what he'd said in Sokovia and the teenager thought it was hilarious.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve asked.

"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony asked Thor, "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is I think the literal translation.

"Yes," Thor said, standing up from the sofa, "I think that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." He grabbed his hammer, lifting it up with one hand easily. He flipped it with one hand.

"You're all not worthy." Everyone scoffed in reply, laughing.

Suddenly, there was a loud ringing sound that felt like screeching metal and Adelaide closed her ears with both hands, looking at Natasha in confusion. The redhead suddenly looked alert and sat up quickly. An eerie voice came from the stairs.

"Worthy," it said, dragging out the word, "No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers." It looked like one of Tony's suits. It stumbled around clumsily, struggling to stand properly. Adelaide instantly made herself invisible. It would be easier to attack it this way.

"Stark," Steve said, warningly.

"JARVIS," Tony mumbled, looking at his phone.

"I'm sorry. I was asleep," the suit said, "Or I was a – dream.

"Reboot Legionnaire OS," Tony said, tapping something on his phone, "We got a buggy suit."

"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in…in…strings," the suit said, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy." Adelaide felt her heartbeat speed up. Who had he killed?

"You killed someone?" Steve asked him, reading the teenager's mind.

"Wouldn't have been my first call," the suit replied, "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked. Suddenly, Tony's voice played from the suit.

_"_ _I see a suit of armor around the world."_

"Ultron," Bruce said. The suit seemed to smile, although he physically couldn't and Adelaide suppressed a shiver.

"In the flesh," he replied, "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready." Adelaide noticed Thor gripping his hammer. She realized everyone was in position to fight, expecting an attack. The teenager felt her nerves buzzing with energy. They did that whenever she used her abilities. It was a powerful feeling.

"I'm on a mission," Ultron said.

"What mission?" Natasha asked from beside her.

"Peace in our time."

Suddenly, suits broke through the wall, flying straight towards them. Almost reflexively, Steve kicked up the table, but it flew back, the force knocking them back. Adelaide fell just behind the couch, holding her breath. Her mind was racing. Ultron? What was Ultron? Adelaide stumbled back up, grabbing the couch to help herself. Everyone was fighting a bot.

"Adelaide!" Clint shouted, sliding underneath a table. He knew she was invisible and he could see the couch seemingly moving on its own. Immediately, she slid under the table with him, making herself visible once again. They were both breathing heavily. Clint handed her a gun and, for some reason, it felt right in her hand. She realized she fully knew how to operate one which was strange, considering she had never used one. Or maybe she had before…

"Stay here. Stay safe," Clint told her, running out from the table. Stay here? Why should she stay here when there were bots attacking them outside? Rolling her eyes, she loaded the gun, running out from under the table with the gun aimed in front of her. A bot noticed the teenager and lunged at her. She moved aside just in time and shot at it while it was on the floor. The bullet hit his face perfectly, but he still stood up and began shooting at her. How the hell did these things die?

He began running at her again and she shot endlessly, hitting him perfectly each time, but he didn't stop running. Suddenly, she heard a click from the gun. She cursed, tossing it aside. He was only a foot away now. At the last second, she made herself invisible and moved aside quickly. The bot crashed into the bar counter behind her. Before he had time to regain himself, Adelaide jumped onto him, twisting her arms around his neck. He stumbled around, trying to shake her off, but her grip was like steel. Adelaide dug her fingers into the wires in his neck and pulled. If she could get his head off, he'd be dead. But no matter how hard she pulled, she could only snap a couple wires that didn't seem to do much damage.

Suddenly, she was thrown off his shoulders and she landed in the pile of glass shards from the bar. She cursed, feeling some of them dig into her arm. Adelaide bounced back up, grabbing a small table smacking the bot in his back with it, effectively knocking him over. While he was still down, she brought down her sharp heel on the back of his neck. His circuits began shorting and the bot started to shake. Before he could stand up again, Adelaide yanked off his head with both hands and tossed it aside. The bot stopped struggling and fell dead. She let out a breath, stepping off of him.

"That was dramatic," Ultron said, walking around. Somehow, he wasn't hurt. Adelaide pulled her hand into a fist, feeling a sticky liquid roll down her arm. She was breathing rapidly.

"I'm sorry, I know you mean well," Ultron continued. Adelaide glanced at Tony, who was sitting on the stairs. There was something on his face that she couldn't read.

"You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to…evolve? With these? These puppets," he said, picking up the head of the bot that Adelaide had thrown. He crushed the head in his hand easily and then threw it aside.

"There's only one path to peace," Ultron said. Adelaide hated his voice. "The Avenger's extinction."

Suddenly, Thor hurled his hammer at Ultron, throwing the suit against the wall. He crumbled to the ground. Adelaide let out a breath, gripping the table.

"I had strings, but now I'm free," he sang through the pile of metal.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So about this chapter. Well, there's Ultron. There's Wanda (yay!) and Pietro. The Avengers. Peppermom. A few criminals because what's the Avengers without a few criminals every now and then? There's actually a ton going on in this chapter and I don't want to spoil too much and ruin all the fun. Although, let's just say my favorite part was the end.

* * *

_"I don't see the big picture._

_I have a little picture._

_I take it out, and_

_look at it every day."_

* * *

Ultron had escaped with the scepter.

"All our work is gone," Bruce said. Everyone had gathered in the lab after Ultron had tried to kill them. Adelaide was leaning against the door, pulling her coat closer. Dr. Cho had helped her clean the blood of her hands and get the glass out of her cuts. She had little cuts all over her arms and they stung like crazy. Adelaide was angry – everyone was – but she was even more confused. Who was Ultron? Who was 'the other guy'? Why did he take the scepter? Why did he want to kill the Avengers? How did he escape?

"Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch," Bruce continued, answering Adelaide's question.

"Ultron," Steve said accusingly.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance," Natasha said, crossing her arms, "Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Adelaide sighed, pulling her hair away from her face. What in the world did he want? Everyone in the room was avoiding eye contact. All the fun and laughter that had been between them a few minutes ago was long gone.

"He's in your files, he's in the Internet," Rhodey said, stepping forward, "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

"Nuclear codes," Hill said. Adelaide wondered what he would do if he could access them. Well, he already could. It was just a matter of time now.

"Nuclear codes," Rhodey said, nodding, "Look, we need to make some calls...assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha asked, "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say 'dead'. He said 'extinct'," Steve said.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint reminded. Adelaide nodded.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building," Hill said. The teenager shared a confused look with the assassin. Hill was right. There was no one else in the building. Who had Ultron killed? Was he bluffing?

"Yes, there was," Tony said, walking to the center of the room. He flicked his phone in the air, creating a hologram of something yellow...JARVIS. He was infected with bits of blue here and there and the yellow kept flickering.

"What?" Bruce said, walking over to it. Adelaide pushed herself off the door, slowly walking towards it. "This is insane."

"JARVIS was the first line of defence," Steve said, his head down. Even though he was just an AI, Adelaide suddenly missed JARVIS. It made sense now. Ultron had killed JARVIS because he was getting in the way. JARVIS was 'the other guy'.

"He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense," Steve continued.

"No," Bruce said, "Ultron could have assimilated JARVIS. This isn't strategy, this is...rage." Adelaide tightened her arms around herself. Rage? What was he angry about? The Avengers? He had called them killers. What did he mean by that?

Suddenly, Thor marched into the lab and grabbed Tony's throat, lifting him off the ground. Adelaide reached out instantly.

"Hey! What are you doing! Let go!" But Thor hardly seemed to hear a word and Natasha pulled her back, the assassin's eyes never leaving the god. He was heaving with anger.

"Woah, woah, woah," Steve said.

"It's going around," she heard Clint mumble.

"Come on, use your words, buddy," Tony said, his voice strained.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor spat. Adelaide sighed, tired. What on earth was going on?  _Who_  the hell  _was_  Ultron? She could feel a headache coming on and she rubbed her forehead as if doing so would make it disappear.

"Thor," Steve demanded, "The Legionnaire." Thor glared at the billionaire for a heartbeat longer and then tossed him to the ground. Tony stumbled back, groaning.

"Trail went cold about a 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter," Thor said, his eyes still watching Tony. Adelaide watched the billionaire, worried. He glanced at her, loosening his tie and in that moment, he suddenly looked like a stranger to the teenager. Adelaide realized that she had no idea what he's been up to these past three days and she's hardly seen him around in the penthouse. Sure, having the other Avengers around makes it a little less obvious, but she couldn't help but notice. She thought back to their moment in the lab just before the party had started. Is that what JARVIS had been working on this whole time?

"Now we have to retrieve it again," Thor said.

"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha remarked from beside her, "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand," Dr. Cho said suddenly. She'd hardly said a word since any of this happened. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony walked over to his computer, turning his back to everyone but Bruce. Suddenly, he began laughing. Adelaide looked up, surprised. His laughter was hollow and the sound felt weird. Bruce shook his head at him, but Tony didn't stop.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked, stepping forward. His laughter ceased immediately and he turned around.

"No," the billionaire said, "It's probably not, right?" This is very terrible. Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible." He chuckled again.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor said.

"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny," he said, stepping up to Thor, "It is a hoot that you don't get why we need this." He was serious again.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the right time," Bruce warned. Adelaide agreed with him. Whatever was going on, this wasn't the right time for it. They needed to stop Ultron before he accessed anything dangerous and became even more powerful.

"Really?" Tony asked, appalled as he turned around, "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly  _every_   _time_  somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce answered cooly.

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Bruce shrugged, shaking his head.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here," Steve said, stepping forward, "The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked. Adelaide realized that she had seen that on tv somewhere. It was a few years back, when the Avengers were first formed.

"No, it's never come up," Rhodey said, shaking his head. Tony ignored him.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it...We're the Avengers. We can bust arm dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's...that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve said confidently. Tony looked him in the eye.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve said, and Tony turned away, "Thor's right, Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us." Adelaide made eye contact with Tony and sighed. Steve was right.

"The world's a big place. Let's start by making it smaller."

* * *

_SOKOVIA_

In the darkness, the church looked haunted. The streets were full of nervous chatter, as if the civilians were expecting the impending doom that was soon to be casted upon them. People were scurrying home quickly, hiding their children, burying their faces in their coats. And although they were rushing home to safety, they knew deep down that their home was just as safe as the open, haunting streets.

Hand in hand, the two twins cautiously entered the church, holding their breath just as the church seemed to be doing. The girl glanced at her brother and then inside the building.

"Talk," she said, her voice sharp like an icicle, "And if you're wasting our time –"

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city?" the voice said, "The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that." The girl took careful steps forward. There was something different about this man. Something that she couldn't figure out.

"The geometry of belief…" he said, "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head." The girl stopped. She brought her powers to her fingertips, just out of reach. This man was peculiar, unlike anything she'd ever seen.

"Sometimes it's hard," she answered simply. She wasn't a woman of many words, but she always chose the right ones. "But sooner or later, every man shows himself." Ultron stood up, dropping the shawl off his shoulders and revealing his identity to the girl.

"Oh, I'm sure they do," he said. The girl stumbled back in surprise. This wasn't a man, this was…

"But you needed something more than a  _man_ ," Ultron continued, stepping forward, "That's why you let Stark take the scepter." Her face hardened.

"I didn't expect, but I saw Stark's fear. I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct."

"Everyone creates the thing they dread," Ultron said, walking around, "Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create...smaller people? Uh...Children." He laughed like anything about this was even remotely funny.

"I lost the word, there. Children. Designed to supplant them, to help them...end."

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" He turned around.

"I've come to save the world. But also...yeah." The twins shared a look. Ultron would help them get what they wanted. What they've wanted for so long. So, so long.

* * *

"We'll move out right away. This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work," Ultron said, marching towards his bots. They were at the HYDRA base again, except Ultron had taken over it. The twins curiously studied the bots.

"All of these are…" the girl said.

"Me," Ultron finished, "I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony. They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside the rest of their heads…"

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them," the boy spoke up.

"And make them martyrs?" Ultron asked, flying up to him, "You need patience. Need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture," he said defensively, "I have a little picture. I take it out, and look at it every day." Ultron tilted his head sympathetically. The girl wondered if he was even capable of such an emotion.

"You lost your parents in the bombing. I've seen the records," Ultron said.

"The records are not the picture," he said.

"Pietro," the girl said. She didn't want to think about this again. She needed her head clear, focused on her goal. Her motivation was constantly in the back of her mind.

"No, please," Ultron said, gesturing for Pietro to continue. Pietro glanced at his twin and an emotion passed between them. Pain.

"We were 10 years old. Having dinner, the four of us," he said. The girl looked away. "When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed and the second shell hits. But, it doesn't go off. It just sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell, is painted one word…"

"Stark," the girl said. The name felt like poison on her tongue and she despised the sound of it.

"We were trapped for two days," Pietro said.

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think 'This will set it off'," she said. She looked at Ultron, the pain pouring onto her face.

"We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us."

"I know what they are," Pietro said, nodding.

"I wondered why only you two survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. You and I can hurt them," Ultron said, walking up to Pietro. He looked at the girl next to him, reaching out, but his metal hand hovered just by her face. She would be his greatest weapon.

"But you will tear them apart...from the inside."

* * *

_STARK TOWER_

Steve was right. The world was a big place. And not so surprisingly, making it smaller was a lot harder than it sounded. They were back in the lab and Adelaide was working with Natasha, trying to pin down Ultron's location. The redhead had informed her that the AI was teaming up with the Maximoff twins, both equally successful results of Strucker's human experimentation. Adelaide studied them on the screen. Wanda Maximoff looked menacing even through her picture and Pietro Maximoff smiled like he knew something Adelaide didn't.

"They were orphaned at age 10," Natasha said, scrolling through some records, "Bombing. Volunteered for Strucker's experimentation afterwards." Adelaide read through the descriptions of the twins.

"I can see why," Adelaide muttered. What else did they have to lose? Suddenly, Steve entered the room with Hill trailing behind. He handed a tablet to Thor and Adelaide bounced up to see what was on it. The teenager recognized the dead man as Baron Strucker. Ultron had written 'peace' on the wall with his blood. So the AI had a sense of humor.

"What's this?" Tony asked. Adelaide sat down in her chair, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"A message," Steve said, "Ultron killed Strucker." Thor handed the billionaire the tablet, making sure to smack it on his stomach. Tony grabbed it, flipping it around in his hand.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony remarked.

"This is a smoke screen," Natasha piped up from beside her, "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve said. Natasha began typing something on the computer in front of them.

"Yeah, I bet he...Yeah. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased." Steve raised his eyebrow.

"Not everything."

* * *

Adelaide shifted through a box of seemingly useless papers. She had no idea what she was looking for, but she knew she hated Ultron. Why couldn't he just make their job a little easier and leave the details about Strucker on the database? Then, she wouldn't have to be doing this.

"Baron Strucker had a lot of friends," Steve remarked, shifting through his own box.

"Well, all these people are horrible," Bruce said. Adelaide agreed. Every single person was either a thief, a drug dealer, a wanted fugitive, a murderer, or all of the above. Strucker really should have rethought his friend circle. No wonder he was so twisted himself.

"Wait," Tony said, pointing to the file in Adelaide's hand. "I know that guy." She glanced up at him, one eyebrow raised in question. She was kind of hoping  _nobody_  knew this guy.

"Uh, Tony, how do you know him?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. He grabbed the file from the teenager's hand.

"From back in the day. He operates of the African Coast. Black market arms," the billionaire answered. Adelaide gave him a confused look. Black market arms? What the hell was Tony doing with the black market?

"There are conventions, all right? You meet people," he answered to her stare, "I didn't sell him anything." He scanned the file again.

"He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab." Adelaide studied the picture carefully. What was Ulysses Klaue looking for?

"This?" Thor asked, pointing to something on Klaue's neck.

"Ah, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it." Thor shook his head.

"Those are tattoos," Thor said, pointing to the black marks on his body. He pointed to Klaue's neck again, "This is a brand." Bruce searched up the symbol on the computer. The computer found a match in seconds.

"Oh yeah," Bruce said, "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief'." He turned around. "In a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve asked, beating Adelaide to it.

"Wakana-W-Wakanda," he said, struggling to say it properly. Tony shared a knowing look with Steve and Adelaide looked between the two Avengers, confused. Wakanda?

"If this guy got out of Wakanda, with some of their trade goods…" Tony mumbled, trailing off.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," Steve said.

"I don't follow," Bruce said, standing up, "What comes out of Wakanda?" Tony glanced at Adelaide and then stepped aside, revealing Captain's shield.

"The strongest metal on Earth," Tony said. What would a criminal like Ulysses Klaue do with vibranium?

"Where is this guy now?"

* * *

Pepper was adamant on refusing to let Adelaide go with the Avengers to the Salvage Yard to find Klaue.

"Adelaide, it's just not safe," she said. The team had cleared out of the lab and at the moment, it was just the two of them. Tony had refused to help the teenager, knowing that it would be hopeless. So far, Adelaide felt the same way. The woman was like rock — unmoving. Adelaide sighed, turning around to face her.

"Nothing is. Ultron's out there now, and nowhere is safe until he's gone. You have to let me go with them," she argued. Pepper shook her head.

"I can barely handle letting Tony go out there, I can't handle worrying about you, too."

"But I can really help!"

"Avenging is  _their_  job, Adelaide. It's not yours."

"It doesn't have to be. Just this once, Pepper." The woman sighed quietly and a silence passed over them. Adelaide looked at the floor, lightly kicking the floor. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"When...When Ultron sent those bots after us at the party, Clint handed me a gun," Adelaide said. Pepper looked up and Adelaide winced. Oops. Clint was definitely dead now. She continued.

"Pepper, I know how to use a gun. I have a perfect shot. I single handedly killed one of those bots...I have these strange powers and...and I know how to defend myself and I can use a gun. What kind of person did you think I'd have to be to know these things, Pepper?"

Pepper didn't answer and stayed quiet. Adelaide sighed again and began walking around. She absentmindedly picked up a stylus from the table. This had been circling in the teenager's mind for a while now. Ever since her first day, the day twisting Tony's arm was her first instinct. One by one, things kept adding to it, making her think the worst about herself. And now...she knew how to use a gun. Why did she know those things?

"All...All I want to do is something right. Something good. Because if maybe one day I'll remember everything again, I want to have done enough good to...to redeem myself." She looked up at Pepper who was looking past the teenager, out the window. "And I want to start by killing Ultron."

For a moment, they were both still until Pepper sighed, standing up. Slowly she walked past Adelaide and sat down on the couch, gesturing for the teenager to sit next to her. Adelaide did.

"Not so long ago, I had the ability to control fire," the woman said.

"о мой Бог! Where did you…"

"It's a long story where I almost died and knocked Tony over the head for putting me through it," Pepper said, "but that's besides the point. Adelaide, I want you to know that having strange powers you don't understand isn't such a bad thing." Adelaide looked up at her.

"This is still you talking, right?" she asked. Pepper chuckled.

"You're a good person, Adelaide," Pepper said softly, "I don't think you could've ever hurt a soul. I'm not going to make excuses to justify your past, but if you were anything like what you are now, I don't think you need to redeem yourself. Maybe you're little reckless and strong-headed, but a good person at the heart." Pepper lightly tapped her chest, just over where her heart was beating. Adelaide took in a deep breath.

"So you'll let me go?" Pepper nodded with a smile. Adelaide grinned brightly.

"But not like this. You need a disguise to hide your identity," Pepper said and Adelaide smirked.

"Don't worry," the teenager said, "I've got it all planned out."

* * *

_SALVAGE YARD, AFRICAN COAST_

"But I always say, keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which," Ultron said to Klaue. The criminal was appalled at the number flashing in his bank account. He had only ever dreamed of that much money. He turned around, slowly.

"Stark," Klaue said, suddenly realizing something.

"What?" Ultron asked.

"Tony Stark used to say that," Klaue said, not realizing what that statement would cost him, "To me. You're one of his."

"What?" Ultron said, grabbing the criminal's arm, "I'm not – You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men? I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!" Ultron raised his metal arm and brought it down onto the criminal's, cutting it off in one blow. Ultron paused, realizing what he just did in the midst of his anger.

"I'm sorry, I'm...Oh! I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand...Don't compare me with Stark!" Ultron bellowed, kicking Klaue down the stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is….he's a sickness!"

"Ah, junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart," Tony said, flying in. Ultron turned around.

"If I have to," Ultron said, stepping forward. Adelaide watched him with careful eyes, invisible behind Tony. Her eyes studied the two twins behind the AI. They looked cautious, but ready to fight. Of course they would. All they've done since the bombing is fight. Their anger was justified...to an extent.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor said from next to her.

"Clearly, you've never made an omelette," Ultron said. Somehow, his humor wasn't the slightest bit amusing.

"He beat me by one second," Tony said.

"Ah, yes. He's funny," Pietro said, stepping forward, "Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?"

"This was never my life," Tony said.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve said, talking to the twins.

"Oh, we will," Wanda said, hatred laced into her tone.

"I know you've suffered," Steve continued and Ultron scoffed dramatically. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Captain America," he said, "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but –"

"If you believe in peace," Thor said, "then let us keep it."

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'," Ultron said.

"Uh-huh," Tony piped up, "What's the vibranium for?"

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan," Ultron remarked sarcastically. Suddenly, he shot his arm out, pulling Tony forward with a force and then he pushed him back, making him hit the wall. Instantly, Tony rolled up and the two began fighting in the air.

"Stay out of sight!" Steve shouted to the teenager, getting ready to fight a bot headed his direction. Adelaide ran past him to find Natasha. Upon seeing the redhead, she made herself visible again.

"Don't hesitate," Natasha said, talking about the gun in Adelaide's pocket. The redhead looked past the teenager, at the two men running towards them.

"Nice hairstyle," the assassin said before shoving her to the side. Adelaide made herself invisible once again. To hide her identity, she made an illusion that turned her hair into white-blonde bob and made her look two inches taller than her usual height. Tony had given her a flexible suit to finish off the look, similar to Natasha's and it was semi-bulletproof. On such a short notice, this was the best he could do. In fact, he still believed that the teenager had tricked Pepper into giving her permission and refused to make the suit until last minute, not wanting to get in trouble.

Suddenly, she noticed another man running towards Natasha who was already fighting two henchmen. Adelaide smirked, sticking out her foot. The man tripped over it, falling onto his face. Call it childish, but it was worth seeing the look on his face. The man scrambled up, putting his cap back on. Adelaide snuck up behind him, twisting his arm behind his back. The man cried out in pain. She kicked the back of his knees, making him fall over. Before he could stand up again, she slammed his head against the wall and he fell unconscious. Natasha walked out of the room, glancing at the man lying on the floor. She nodded.

"Good job," she said, even though the teenager was invisible. Adelaide smiled and walked away in the opposite direction of the assassin. Another man was running up the stairs.

"Hey!" she shouted. The man frantically looked around for the source of the voice. He was standing just a few feet away from the stairs. Adelaide made an image of herself at the top of the metal stairs, just behind him.

"Behind you, идиот!" she shouted. He turned around, his eyes going wide at the girl. Her image smirked, moving into a fighting stance. The man narrowed his eyes and lunged at her image. Instead of hitting her, he went right through and fell down the flight of stairs, hitting his head against the metal. He rolled unconscious at the bottom. Adelaide grinned, making her image disappear. This was too easy; she didn't even lift a finger. She turned around, noticing a man running right towards her. Her eyes widened. She was still invisible then how…? Her voice. He'd heard her yell.

She deflected his blow and rolled under him. She pushed back up, grabbed his arm, and landed one squarely on his jaw. He stumbled back, but didn't look shaken at all. Maybe he was used to invisible girls beating him up. Suddenly, he ran forward and grabbed both of her legs, making her fall over. He laughed, searching for her arms which were flailing, trying to get a hit.

She was pinned down by his legs and then he held her wrists with one hand while looking for her head. He grabbed her hair, pulling. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Adelaide struggled, trying to escape from his grasp. The teenager suddenly remembered the gun in her pocket and yanked out one of her wrists from his hold and her hand flew down to her waist. She grasped the gun. Instantly, she slammed the butt of the gun into his head, making him roll over. Adelaide bounced up, making herself visible for him to see before he blacked out. She made sure to smirk.

Suddenly, someone began shooting at her from the other side. Adelaide held up her gun and fired it. Instantly, there was the sound of someone groaning. Just as she was about to run down the stairs, there was more firing. This time it was coming from all directions. In the distance, she could see Natasha fighting two thugs at once. The redhead made eye contact with her.

"Behind you!" she shouted. Almost reflexively, Adelaide spun around and raised her arm to throw a punch. She paused, realizing it was Wanda. In that second that she had hesitated, the witch created a red glow between her hands and Adelaide suddenly lost her balance, stumbling back.

_Her head was pounding in pain. The teenager struggled to stand up. Upon looking around, she realized everyone was gone. It was silent on this ship. She reached for her gun, but there was only a pencil there. Strange, she thought._

" _Tony?" she shouted, taking small steps forward, "Nat? Bruce?" Still, there was only silence. She turned the corner, noticing a bright red door to her left. Adelaide pushed it open and stepped inside. Suddenly, she wasn't at the Salvage Yard anymore. She was back in the room at the public swimming pool where she had first discovered her powers._

" _Guys?" Someone shushed her and she scanned the room, her eyes struggling to see properly in the darkness. She tried to draw the light coming from the window, but she couldn't. To her horror, she realized that her powers didn't work anymore. She was an ordinary girl. Her breathing turned uneven and restless. The only sound she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears. Every nerve in her body was alert, awake. Suddenly, Coach Ross' corpse appeared by the door. She screamed, stumbling backwards and knocking over boxes. He smiled at her. Adelaide looked down at her hands, trying to wipe the blood off of them, but they were stained._

" _You've got blood on your hands, sweetheart. Lots of it," he said. His voice seemed to come from everywhere. He walked closer and Adelaide stepped back until she was against the wall. The corpse kept walking closer until he was inches away from her face. She couldn't breathe and tears pricked her eyes. Ross' corpse studied her face and then pushed her chin up with his wrinkled hand. She cringed at his touch, shrinking away._

" _Follow me," the corpse said, stepping back and disappearing through the door. Adelaide let out a shaky breath, trying to regain control of her own body once again. She rubbed her face, pulling her hair away from it. A long moment later, she followed after him, fearing the worst. Walking through the door, she ended up in the car where her parents were killed. The little girl in the back was dead, bled out from the cut on her arm. Her glowing eyes were left lifeless and hollow._

" _She wants to redeem herself, but she has no idea what she's done," the woman said with a laugh. To her surprise, Adelaide realized it was Pepper in the passenger's seat instead of her mother and Tony was driving._

" _She doesn't deserve to live," Tony said, gripping the steering wheel tightly._

" _What did I do?" Adelaide cried, but they didn't hear her. Suddenly, it happened all over again. The car came straight at them and they crashed into a tree. Pepper and Tony were just barely alive, hardly breathing. Adelaide let out a small scream when the dead girl next to her grabbed her arm, sitting up._

" _You could've saved them," she hissed, blood spilling out of her mouth. The little girl smiled. "But you killed them instead."_

_She dropped her hand and fell back, dead once again. Adelaide was shaking in fear. She realized what happened next in this nightmare and frantically looked outside. A black car rolled up next to theirs. Adelaide held her breath, watching. Instead of a man, a girl stepped out. She had brown hair and glowing blue eyes. With a gasp, Adelaide realized it was her. She held a gun in her hand. Almost happily, she walked over to the car and put the pistol against Tony's head._

_With a smile, she pulled the trigger._

_The sound echoed in Adelaide's ear until it turned into a distant ringing. She opened her eyes again, realizing she was in a black void. There was no floor, but she was somehow still standing. She looked around for something, but everything was pitch black in every direction. Suddenly, Ross' corpse appeared in front of her again. She stumbled backwards in fear._

" _You killed me," he hissed, taking a step forward. Adelaide felt her breath caught in her throat and tears began falling. She was sweating in fear. She shook her head._

" _No-No I'm not — I didn't —"_

" _One by one, you'll kill everybody," he said, "One by one, you'll destroy everyone you love."_

" _No," she cried, stepping back, "No!"_

" _Soon, you'll only have one friend," he said, smiling. Adelaide felt a cold metal in her hand. She looked down. A pistol. It fit so perfectly in the palm of her hand. Adelaide looked up once again and there was a mirror in front of her. She saw Ross' corpse standing behind her in the reflection._

" _Do it," he whispered and Adelaide knew exactly what he meant. She dug her teeth into her lip until it bled, furiously shaking her head. He snarled._

" _You did it to him. You did to me. Now, it's your turn." She stayed frozen._

" _DO IT!" he yelled into her ear. She flinched, crying. She brought up the gun to her head. Her hand was shaking. The corpse grinned._

" _Now," he whispered, "it's time to redeem yourself."_

_Adelaide squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger on herself._

"Tony!" Adelaide shouted. She wasn't breathing fast enough, she was gasping for air. Sweat was rolling down her face and she was seeing spots in her vision. She blinked hard. She wasn't getting enough air. Air. She needed air. She held her head in her hands. Her hair was sticking to her face and neck. The black abyss was gone. She frantically looked down at her hands. No gun. No blood. The teenager looked around. The corpse was gone. She was on the Quinjet. Suddenly, Tony appeared in front of her. It was like all the air in the world returned to her lungs.

"Adie –" She cut him off by jumping up and wrapping her arms around him. Adelaide hid her face into his neck, never wanting to let go. Relief flooded her and she began to cry again.

"You're alive," she sobbed. The billionaire looked at the assassin sitting in front of him. She nodded slightly. Tony blinked and then wrapped his arms around the teenager.

"I'm okay," he whispered, tightening his hold. He was never letting her out of sight again. "You're okay. We're all okay, Adie."

"I'm sorry," she said between sobs, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Shh," he said into her hair, "It's gonna be okay." He looked at Steve. "We're going to figure this out." The super soldier nodded in agreement and then turned away. He was fighting demons of his own.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again.

Maybe she wasn't in the black void anymore, but one had opened up in her heart and she was falling through it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's only a few more chapters left of Age of Ultron and then we're gonna be back to some original stuff. In the last couple chapters it's mainly just been Adelaide and the Avengers and we haven't seen Peter at all so I squeezed him into this chapter because I know we can't go too long without him lol. I think my favorite part of this chapter is the scene with Peter or maybe the last scene.

* * *

_"_ _While preparing for_

_the dangerous battle,_

_please remember_

_your mother._ _"_

* * *

"What is this place?" Thor asked as they climbed the stairs and Adelaide had the same question. With everything that had happened, this place seemed... _normal_. Too normal. Even normality was being questioned now.

"Safe house," Tony said. Adelaide was walking with her arm around him and vice versa. She was still very much shaken by her vision. The teenager couldn't help wondering if there was any truth to it. She hoped not. The only thing she could see was herself holding the gun against Tony's head. Over and over, she pulled the trigger. Even though he was standing right next to her, Adelaide felt he was farther away than ever.

"Let's hope," Clint said, opening the door and Adelaide raised her eyebrow. Wasn't he the one who had brought them here? They all walked inside, one by one, eyes wandering in curiosity.

"Honey?" Clint shouted, "I'm home."

Adelaide couldn't be more surprised at the sight of the living room. There were toys and colors...what…? The teenager shared a confused look with Tony. What was this place? For some reason, the normality of it irritated Adelaide. Everything felt messed up in her mind, out place and discordant. But this place was normal and...right. She hated that it was just in her head. It made her feel crazy. Suddenly, a very pregnant woman walked into the room, holding colored paper and crayons in her hand. Adelaide tilted her head to the side.

"Hi," Clint said, "Company. Sorry, didn't call ahead." The woman smiled and walked up to the archer. They shared a kiss and Adelaide glanced at Tony who looked equally confused.

"This is an agent of some kind," the billionaire remarked.

"Gentlemen, this is Laura," Clint said. Laura smiled.

"I...know all your names," she said with a small laugh. Adelaide studied her. She looked nice enough. Laura glanced at her.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, "I don't…"

"Adelaide," she answered with a small nod. Smiling wasn't an expression she was ready for yet. Laura nodded. Suddenly, there were footsteps on from the stairs. Clint smiled, not the least bit surprised.

"Oh, incoming," he said. To everyone's surprise, two kids ran down, running into Clint's arms. Adelaide pulled her lips in, quietly clearing her throat.

"Dad!" the little girl shouted. Clint smiled widely, letting them run into his open arms.

"Hi, sweetheart! Hey, buddy! How're you guys doing!" Steve opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out.

"These are smaller agents," Tony remarked in disbelief.

"Look at your face!" Clint shouted happily, kissing his daughter's cheek, "Oh my goodness!" He put his daughter down. She was beaming brightly like a lightbulb and Adelaide felt something churn inside her stomach. What was this feeling?

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" the girl asked shyly. Adelaide looked at the redhead. She knew these people? Nat didn't seem to notice the teenager's stare, too excited to meet the little girl.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha said happily, lifting the girl up in her arms. Steve seemed to catch up on the situation faster than the others.

"Sorry for barging in on you," the super soldier said.

"Yeah," Tony agreed, "we would've called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Clint smiled.

"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD files. I'd like to keep it that way...I figure it's a good place to lay low," the archer explained. Adelaide nodded, understanding.

He wanted to protect his family. It made sense. She looked at the little girl and wished to be a kid again. Adelaide sighed. It had been a long day.

* * *

"Do you like my Lego house?" the girl asked shyly, holding up a small brick house. She had the proudest grin on her face and her rosy cheeks were glowing from happiness. Adelaide smiled.

"I think it looks like the coolest Lego house ever," she told her. The girl gasped, looking at her house again with a deeper admiration.

"Really?" she asked. Adelaide lightly tapped her nose.

"Really." The little girl squealed and then ran off to tell her brother. As Adelaide watched her run, she suddenly remembered the little girl in the back seat of the car, dead.

_You could've saved them. But you killed them instead._

Adelaide lost her balance, stumbling back from a sudden wave of dizziness. She scraped her arm on the table as she fell down, but she hardly felt it. Her heartbeat was the only thing she was aware of. And the ringing. It was ringing again. She winced. The sound was too loud and it seemed to pierce her skull. Her breathing turned uneven and panicked. Suddenly, Adelaide realized the sound was coming from her pocket. It was her phone. Trying to catch her breath, she dug her phone out of her pocket. She didn't even look at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

" _Ada? Why are you so out of breath?"_  Peter. It was only Peter. She realized that she hadn't seen him since school last week.

"N-Nothing," she lied, "I was just jogging." Swallowing, she pulled herself onto the couch. She leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling.

" _Oh,"_  he said, " _Anyway, you haven't been to school for three days. Is everything okay?"_  She rubbed her face, sighing.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just…out. Family stuff."

" _Well you missed a lot today,"_  he said with a small laugh. Adelaide picked at the hem of her shirt.

"What'd I miss?" she asked, grateful for a distraction.

" _Stevenson gave out a mega test today. You'd know about if you were awake last Friday during his class,"_  he teased and Adelaide rolled her eyes, " _I think I did pretty good on it, but Ned said he felt like he missed a lot of questions. I guess we'll see tomorrow. Oh and guess what? Flash was bad mouthing me during lunch so I beat him up, but, er...well, he did most of the beating...Ben's actually out to get me some medicine."_ He laughed quietly and Adelaide smiled. It felt nice hearing him talk. She kind of missed his voice. Adelaide wondered where he was sitting in his house. Maybe he was on the top bunk. He did his homework up there a lot. Was he staring at the ceiling just like her?

" _Anyway, so Ned and I were walking to class and we passed by the principal's office and I swear heard Mr. Morris say that they think they found a new gym coach. Can you believe it? We're finally getting rid of Coach Stiles! God, that guy is nothing but a couch potato. I mean, a couple days ago, he marked me absent because I was bent over and tying my shoelaces when he was taking roll. And I swear that man has a serious powdered donut addiction."_  Adelaide let out a small laugh that ended in a sigh.

"Sounds like one hell of a day," she said quietly into the phone. She heard Peter scoff.

" _You have no idea,"_  he said with a sigh and she could hear the smile on his face. They were both quiet for a moment. Adelaide listened to the clock ticking.

" _What about you?"_ he asked after a moment, " _How's the family thing going?"_ How was a family thing without the family? She wanted to tell him that there was a crazy witch who messed with her mind and now she felt like a murderer. She wanted to tell him that she'd fought 3 guys and beat them all. She wanted to tell him that Ultron was on the loose and the only thing she could think about was how good she was with a gun.

"It's...going," she answered.

" _Ada…"_  he said slowly, " _Are you okay? You sound...different."_  She felt tears in her eyes the moment he asked the question. She was far from okay. Adelaide bit back a sob and took a deep breath, trying to take control of her emotions again.

"I'm fine," she forced, "I just haven't, um...jogged in a while so I'm just tired, that's all."

" _If you say so,"_  he said, not entirely convinced. He knew it was better to not ask sometimes. Adelaide tried to swallow the knot in her throat, picking at the loose pillow threads. She sniffled quietly, hoping Peter couldn't hear. Adelaide stared outside the window where Tony and Steve were chopping wood. The scene flashed before her eyes again.

_Soon, you'll only have one friend._

Adelaide blinked, looking away from the window.

"Hey, Pete?" she asked. She heard him moving around. So he was lying in his bed.

" _Yeah?"_

"What do you do when you have a really bad nightmare?" she asked. Peter stopped moving.

" _Well,"_  he said slowly, " _I usually have a nightmare about my parents so I get out of bed and just walk around the house, do a few breathing exercises. Then I watch tv until Uncle Ben wakes up in the morning to go to work and he makes me his special apple pie and we eat it together until he has to leave."_

"Does it...work?" she asked awkwardly, hoping he'd know what she meant.

" _Sometimes, if it's not that bad,"_ he said. Adelaide was silent for a long time. She was grateful he didn't ask her any questions.

"Thanks Pete," she said quietly.

" _No problem,"_  he answered and they were quiet again.

" _So are you going to be at school tomorrow?"_ he asked. Adelaide looked around the house and then out the window again. Tony was gone and Steve was chopping wood by himself. He had finished all of it – even Tony's pile.

"Probably not," she answered, "But let me know if Stevenson gets too happy over my absence."

" _I will,"_  he said with a small laugh. She hung up the phone and dropped it onto the couch. Adelaide leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and dropping her head into her hands.

"You're bleeding!" the little girl shouted from the bottom of the stairs and Adelaide looked up. She was right. There was a small cut on her elbow from where it had hit the table.

She'd forgotten about that.

* * *

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury said. At first sight, the man had terrified Adelaide. For the first few minutes, she had used her powers to get rid of his eye patch by replacing it with a normal eye and then she could bring herself to look at him. After a while though, she dropped the illusion and he wasn't so scary anymore. Adelaide convinced herself that it was only the vision that had shaken her up so much. Under any other circumstance, he wouldn't have been so scary.

"My contacts all say he's building something," Fury continued. They were all gathered in the kitchen after Fury had told them he had something important to say. Adelaide leaned back against the fridge, crossing her arms. Laura had given her a loose fitting t-shirt from when she wasn't pregnant and Adelaide had been grateful to get into something a bit more comfortable.

"The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Oh, he's easy to track," Fury said, surprising Adelaide, "He's everywhere. The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though." Adelaide glanced at Tony who was messing with the dartboard. The billionaire gave her a sheepish smile over his shoulder.

"Is he still going after the launch codes?" Tony asked, throwing a dart.

"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway," Fury answered.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a  _dare_ ," Tony remarked.

"Well, I contacted out friends at the Nexus about that," Fury said. Steve looked up.

"Nexus?"

"It's the world Internet hub in Oslo," Bruce answered, "Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So what did they say?" Clint asked, holding up a dart of his own. Tony stood by the dartboard, oblivious to the archer aiming at the spot on the board right next to the billionaire's head.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Fury answered, "But the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked. A dart flew by, inches from his face and he jerked back, looking for the culprit. Clint shrugged and Adelaide bit back a laugh.

"Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Tony got this look on his face and Adelaide's eyebrows creased. She knew that look. It was an 'I have an idea that might not work look'.

"I might need to visit Oslo," the billionaire stated, "Find our unknown."

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," Natasha said.

"I do," Fury said plainly, "I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world...Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha said with a smirk.

"You know what, Romanoff?" he said.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better," Steve answered, "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony said, "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded." Adelaide noticed Bruce looking at the painting on the table. She walked over to it, wondering what he was thinking. It was a butterfly.

"But he keeps coming back to it," Tony said.

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha remarked.

"They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve," Bruce said. Suddenly, Adelaide realized what Ultron wanted.

"Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked. Adelaide realized Ultron had practically told them his plan the night he crashed the party.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

* * *

Adelaide was sitting outside on the front porch with a can of beer in her hand. It tasted horrible, like medicine but that's why she was drinking it. The bitterness of it helped her drink away all her problems. Although, she wasn't an alcoholic. Not just yet.

After their little discussion with Fury, everyone decided to split, cover more ground. Adelaide had wanted to go with Tony to Nexus, but he refused saying she'd be no help there. He still had to learn how to turn down his bluntness a notch or 10. She asked to join Steve, Natasha, and Clint to Korea but Steve turned that idea down because he thought it was too dangerous. He might not have said it out loud, but she knew it was because she was thirteen. After seeing the look on her face, Steve had told her to head to the Tower with Bruce and Fury where she'd be safe until they got the package. Begrudgingly, Adelaide had agreed.

The sun was gone and it was late in the night already. Out here in the middle of nowhere, she could see millions of stars. It was unlike New York. Without all the light pollution, the sky was crystal clear. A window into space. She took a sip of the beer as she rocked on the chair, watching the stars twinkling and cringing at the taste in her mouth. How did people like these things? Adelaide leaned her head back, closing her eyes. She was finally relaxed. She listened to the sounds. There were plenty of crickets and even an owl howling. She could hear some distinct chatter coming from inside the house and a little bit of music, too. Adelaide listened, trying to figure out the name of the song. Suddenly, a very familiar tune popped into her head. She jerked up, repeating the tune in her head. Where had she heard that? Adelaide hummed it out loud, trying to piece it together in her mind. A moment later, the lyrics came rushing in.

_While preparing for the dangerous battle, please remember your mother._

Her hand flew up to her mouth, trying to control her heartbeat. She remembered this. Her mother used to sing this lullaby to her when she was younger. Her mother sang it in Russian and Adelaide suddenly understood how she knew the language so well. Adelaide used to not be able to sleep without the lullaby and whenever she'd have a bad nightmare, her mother would wake up in the middle of the night and sing it to her. Adelaide felt tears at the back of her eyes for the millionth time that day and she held back a sob as her heart gave a squeeze. She remembered. Suddenly, she missed her mother like crazy and all she wanted was to run into her comforting arms. She would forget everything. Ultron, Ross, everything. And then she'd ask her mother to sing her the lullaby and pretend this whole thing had been a nightmare while falling asleep in her warm arms. Instead, the single line from the lullaby kept repeating in her mind like a bittersweet memory.

The front door opened behind her and Adelaide quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand. She took a sip of the beer, swallowing without cringing. The knot in her throat disappeared from the taste of the beer and her face hardened as Fury walked past her. He stopped by the railing, following her gaze to the stars. Neither said a word for a while.

"You know, you're a real mystery to the world," Fury finally said, but he didn't turn around. "No one knows the date your parents died. No one has a clue where you've been since then. Everyone assumed you had died. And now...you're here." He turned around and she looked at the loose floorboard under her feet.

"So I came back from the dead," she said, almost annoyed as she looked past the man, "But I'm just as oblivious as the next person."

"Your folks were good people," he said, making her finally look at him, "Very secretive, but good people."

Adelaide didn't respond and they were both silent. Minutes passed, but Adelaide felt comfortable in the silence. It was the most peaceful moment she'd had in a very long time.

"Tony know about that?" Fury asked, pointing to the beer can in the teenager's hand. He didn't look angry or upset. In fact, he was hiding a smile. Adelaide made the can in her hand invisible.

"Know about what?" she said and Fury grinned, something he didn't do very often. This girl might be pulling on broken strings, but she was tough, he'd give her that. Fury walked back into the house knowing that she'd find her way home on her own. Adelaide stayed outside, rocking back and forth until the sky began to get lighter and then she headed inside, falling asleep on the couch.

_While preparing for the dangerous battle, please remember your mother._


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS ALMOST 10,000 WORDS LONG! I've become so attached to this story it like second nature to write in every free moment I get. 
> 
> Anyway, let's talk about this chapter because this honestly feels like such a bomb ass chapter (I'm like in a really, really good mood. I'm sure you can tell from the language lol). A TON happened. Obviously because it's 9,000 words long. Sorry I can't stop bragging because I've never written chapters this long. Usually, they'd be about a 1,000 words max. And that's if you're lucky. So I've tried turning that around for this story and now I get to brag.
> 
> So where's Adelaide in this? Well, I honestly don't remember where I left her last. Was she drinking beer? At 13! Am I going to snitch about this to Pepper? We'll see, we'll see...I keep getting distracted. Anyway, this chapter was SO FREAKING HARD TO WRITE. It's so emotional and it was a real challenge for me to keep track of all the emotions and reactions and dramatic moments. We can't have a story without all that. Especially if it's Marvel. So this chapter is where Adelaide makes her debut as...lol I'm not telling her superhero name yet. You'll just have to wait and see. It'll probably be in the next chapter. I don't know. We'll see. But I'm really excited for because I think the name sounds sick. Anyway, because of the...event in this chapter, Adelaide kind of grows up maturity wise. I mean, I know that no one walked away from the Battle of Sokovia unscathed and I don't want Adelaide to do that. She going to have this trauma hanging over her head and at least some form of PTSD to deal with afterwards. I want her to grow, but she's still a teenager so don't worry about her becoming serious all the time. And the huge thing I have planned for Civil War will definitely require her to be a lot more mature. Of course, there are going to be other things that do the job as well but this will kind of help her become her own person as well. She doesn't remember who she was before she woke up at the Tower in the first chapter and she's created this image of herself in her mind where she's a terrible person because of all the abilities she has and this chapter kind of lets her feel okay with that. She makes a new identity for herself as Adelaide Rivers, the girl to who saved lives in the Battle of Sokovia. It's all very intense, you'll see.
> 
> Also, remember how Adelaide hated Wanda? Well, I want them to be like best friends so this chapter is a lot about that. One day, they'll be looking back and laughing at the time when Adelaide wanted to kill her. Ah, Marvel friendships. If you didn't want to hate your bestfriend at some point, are they even your bestfriend?
> 
> I feel like there was more I wanted to say, but I really want to get this chapter to you guys and I think I've rambled enough lol.

* * *

_"The city is in the air,_

_we're already_

_in the clouds."_

* * *

_STARK TOWER_

Adelaide was worried sick, sitting in a corner and rocking herself back and forth. She knew the redhead would be able to handle herself, but she didn't trust that Ultron would be able to stop himself from killing an Avenger when one was right at his feet.

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked as Tony entered the room. Adelaide jumped up.

"I haven't heard," the billionaire answered and the teenager's shoulder's slumped. She glanced at Clint who looked equally worried.

"But she's alive or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it," Tony added. Adelaide forced herself to take a deep breath. Tony was right. Natasha was alive. For now.

"This is sealed tight," Clint said, trying to open the cradle. Adelaide was afraid the thing inside was going to jump at them any second. She walked over to it, trailing her finger along the side. There was a strange energy to it.

"We're gonna need to access the program," Bruce said and Adelaide immediately blocked out the rest. In all honesty, she was glad she didn't join Tony at Nexus. She was more help here than she would have been there.

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet? Old school spy stuff?" Tony asked Clint and Adelaide perked up. That was a possibility. In fact, that sounded exactly like something Natasha would do. Adelaide glanced at Clint.

"There are some nets I can cast," he said slowly, nodding.

"I'll come with you," the teenager said, "I think I might actually be able to help…" She had the faintest recollection of learning Morse code. Adelaide had next to no idea why she would know it, but if it was going to help now, she didn't care.

"Yeah, alright. I'll find her," Clint said and Adelaide followed him downstairs.

"So how do you know this stuff?" Clint asked the teenager as he booted up the program. She shrugged, pulling on the headphones. Adelaide tapped some keys, pulling up the software.

"I just do." Clint chuckled, shaking his head and Adelaide looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't just know this stuff for fun," he said, "you learn it for a reason." Adelaide looked away. She knew that. She knew there was a reason she knew all of these weird things and had these strange abilities. Of course there was a reason. She wasn't just magically born with it. Then why couldn't she remember? Why couldn't she remember the origin of all this? Why couldn't she remember the reasons?

"Do you want to find Nat or not?" she asked, slightly annoyed. Her hangover was doing a pretty solid job on keeping her from thinking about anything except her throbbing head and somehow, Clint had managed to bring all those thoughts back into her mind. Suddenly, she heard static in her ear.

"I hear something!" she shouted, gesturing for him to write it down.

"A...L...I...V...E," Adelaide repeated. The teenager let out a relieved sigh. Natasha was still alive. Following the message, the assassin sent her location and Clint quickly typed it into the computer. In seconds, they had her location pinpointed. Natasha was being held captive at the HYDRA base in Sokovia.

Suddenly, there was commotion upstairs. Adelaide shared a look with Clint before following the archer up the steps. The moment the teenager's eyes landed on the witch, she lunged for her, hot anger taking over.

"You bitch!" Adelaide screamed, running towards her. The Sokovian hardly flinched. Clint grabbed the teenager's arms, pulling her back.

"Now is not the time," he said into her ear, but she didn't stop struggling.

"What the  _hell_  are you doing here!  _Get out!_ " Adelaide shouted, pulling away from the archer. He reached out again, but Adelaide glared at him and he dropped his hands. At least she wasn't running towards the witch anymore.

"I know you're angry," Wanda said, stepping out from Steve's shadow. Adelaide laughed and opened her mouth to tell her she was damn right, but Bruce beat her to it.

"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade," he said.

"Banner," Steve said, stepping forward, "after everything that's happened —"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda shouted. Adelaide wanted to smash her pretty face into bits and then throw the witch in front of a bulldozer. She was the reason Adelaide couldn't sleep at night. She was the reason Adelaide questioned herself, her past. She was the reason Adelaide was losing her mind.

"This isn't a game!" Steve said. Adelaide watched Pietro. I'm the midst of all of this, he had the audacity to look bored. Adelaide blinked and he was gone. She jerked head to the side, trying to follow the blue flash around the room until he stopped next to Bruce, holding the power cable.

"No, no, go on," he said cockily, "You were saying?" Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot and Pietro fell through the floor.

"Pietro!" Wanda shouted. Adelaide turned around, realizing that Clint was gone. She ran up to the hole in the floor, peering down. Clint was standing above the white-haired boy, a triumphant smile on his face.

"What?" the archer said smugly, "You didn't see that coming?"

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony said, making Adelaide stepping away from the hole. Suddenly, Steve tossed his shield, effectively destroying all the computers. In an instant, Tony called his iron arm and shot a beam at the super soldier, throwing him into the wall. Adelaide ducked, making herself invisible. Being careful to not get hit, she crept up to the witch, aiming for her throat, but Bruce beat her to it, getting her from behind. Adelaide made herself visible again.

"Go ahead," Bruce said, "piss me off." Wanda formed the red glow in her hands and yanked herself out of Bruce's hold. She twisted around and hit him with her powers, throwing him back. With her back turned to the teenager, Adelaide took the opportunity to try to grab her throat. Before she could even touch the witch, Wanda swerved around and hit her too, sending her flying backwards. She landed on the cradle, hitting her head on the side. Adelaide groaned, trying to get up. Her hand flew up to where her head had hit the cradle. Her fingers came back red. Great, she was bleeding.

From the corner of her eye, Wanda noticed Thor jumping onto the cradle with his hammer raised in the air. Adelaide was frozen, her eyes fixated on the electricity crackling above her, having no idea what was about to happen.

"Wait!" Bruce shouted over the noise, but the god didn't hear. Thor didn't seem to even notice the teenager as he brought down his hammer onto the cradle. Half a second before his hammer made contact the cradle, Wanda shot her red glow at the teenager and pulled her off. Adelaide landed on the floor, tumbling over and landing on her knee. She looked up, catching the witch's eye. Before either could react, Thor's hammer made contact with the package and the electricity crackled louder than ever. Adelaide stood up, watching the package. What...did...he... _do_? A second later, Thor pulled his hammer away and everyone looked around the room nervously. Adelaide held her breath. It was silent except for the sound of her heavy breathing.

Suddenly, the cradle bust open with a great force and Adelaide ducked, taking cover. She watched from between her fingers covering her face, slowly standing up. She eyed Thor was on the floor, having fallen from the explosion. She turned around, eye studying the cradle. Suddenly, a red...body jumped out. The first word that came to her mind was:  _strange_. He had a glowing yellow jewel on his forehead and Adelaide was mesmerized by it. Slowly, the body stood up, head turning left and right to scan the room. And then, his eyes landed on Thor. The figure lunged at him and the two crashed through the window, fighting in the air. Adelaide ran up to the window, her heart beating fast. The figure flipped itself over Thor and flew towards the next window, stopping himself just in time. Steve jumped down and Thor held up a hand, signaling to wait.

Adelaide watched the body curiously. He seemed to be studying his reflection. Much more slowly than before, he flew back, elegantly landing next to Thor. He looked as if he was trying to collect his thoughts.

"I am sorry," he said, "That was...odd. Thank you." His eyes watched Thor for a second longer and then he made a cape and suit for himself. Adelaide thought his voice sounded familiar. She realized he sounded just like JARVIS. But how?

"Thor," Steve said, "You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision," Thor said. He looked distraught. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that." He pointed to the yellow jewel on the figure's forehead.

"What, the gem?" Bruce asked.

"It's the mind stone," Thor explained, "It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe. Unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring —"

"Because Stark is right," Thor said. Adelaide raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"Oh, it's definitely the end of times," Bruce muttered and Adelaide couldn't agree more.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor continued, "Not alone."

"Why does your Vision sound like JARVIS?" Steve said, reading the teenager's mind.

"We reconfigured JARVIS's matrix," Tony said, "to create something new."

"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve muttered.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," Vision said, walking forward.

"You're not?" Steve asked. Vision shook his head.

"I'm not Ultron," he said, "I am not JARVIS. I'm...I am."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda said suspiciously. This was all Ultron's work. Could they trust him?

"Look again," he simply said. Clint scoffed.

"Her seal of approval means jack to me," he said.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash," Thor said. Adelaide suddenly realized the thing in common between all of those things. Loki's scepter. That meant the Mind Stone or whatever it was, came from Loki's scepter.

"But with it on our side…"

"Is it?" Steve suddenly asked, eyeing Vision with a great curiosity, "Are you? On our side?"

Vision looked away, thinking. He actually seemed to be considering the question.

"I don't think it's that simple," he answered.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint threatened.

"I am on the side of life," Vision said, "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked and Adelaide felt as if she was on the edge of a seat, her heart beating in anticipation.

"You."

"Where?" Bruce asked.

"Sokovia."

"He's got Nat there too," Clint added. He was right. Is that why Ultron had taken her? So she'd lead them straight into his waiting arms?

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce said, stepping up to Vision, "if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…" Vision didn't look intimidated.

"What will you do?" he asked quietly. Although the question was threatening, his voice indicated that he was merely just asking a question. Bruce just glared at him in response and Vision studied everyone's faces.

"I don't want to kill Ultron," he said, walking away, "He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go."

Vision grabbed Thor's Mjolnir and handed it to him as if it was just another hammer from a regular toolbox. Everyone glanced around nervously. How had he been able to do that so easily? Thor grabbed the hammer, frowning. He took in a deep breath.

"Right," the god said, "Well done." He patted Tony on the shoulder and followed after Vision. Adelaide suppressed a laugh.

"Three minutes," Steve said, taking control of the situation like he always did, "Get what you need."

* * *

_BATTLE OF SOKOVIA_

_MAY 6, 2015_

Sokovia was holding its breath, anticipating the attack, waiting for the blow. The people were rushing out of their homes, crossing the bridge to get to safety. The Avengers were evacuating the country.

Adelaide was with Steve, trying to steer the people and control the crowd. The teenager bent the light to make the situation a little less chaotic and prevent it from spiraling out of control. The plan was to make sure all civilians were safely across the bridge, on the other side before bringing the fight out to the streets. Tony was there, with Ultron, stalling.

"Move it," she said, waving her hand along.

"Come on," Steve muttered. Adelaide helped an old man into one of the cars. One by one, cars began crossing the bridge. As slowly as it was going, they were making progress. Adelaide noticed a little girl standing in the corner, clutching her doll. Her light hair was a mess and her eyes were glinting with tears. Adelaide crouched down next to her.

"Are you lost?" she asked and the girl nodded her head, tears spilling over. Adelaide placed a hand on her cheek.

"Shh, hey, hey don't cry," she told her and the girl hiccuped, trying to stop her tears. Adelaide gestured to the doll in the girl's hand.

"Can I see that?" the teenager asked. The girl glanced at Adelaide through her tears and then handed over her doll. The toy was broken everywhere and there was dirt on the doll's face. Adelaide used the light to fix it up a bit and then handed it back to her with a smile.

"There. All fixed," she told her and girl dropped her frown. At least she'd gotten her to stop crying.

"Come on," Adelaide said, standing up with her hand out for the girl to grab, "let's go find your parents." When the girl didn't grab her hand, Adelaide crouched down again, watching her with worried eyes.

"My parents are...gone," she said quietly and Adelaide wouldn't have heard it if she wasn't standing so close.

"Who takes care of you?" Adelaide asked quietly.

"My grandma," she answered. How old was this girl? Maybe 5? 6? How many other kids in this world had to live without their parents?

"What's your name?" Adelaide asked.

"Rosie."

"I'm Adelaide and I'm gonna help you find your grandmother, okay?" Rosie nodded solemnly. Adelaide stood up, taking Rosie's hand. Suddenly, an Ultron bot jumped out from under the ground. Its calculating eyes landed on the white-haired girl and it lunged at her. In a second Adelaide turned herself and Rosie invisible and the bot stopped in its tracks. Then, it was like it suddenly knew where Adelaide was standing and it flew at her again. Infrared waves. It was seeing her body's infrared waves.

Adelaide shoved Rosie to the side and ducked seconds before the bot hit her. It halted and then flew back at twice the speed. This time, she was ready. When it flew by again she swerved to the side and grabbed its metal legs to keep it from flying forward. She twisted it around and smashed its head into the concrete. He died instantly and Adelaide made herself and Rosie visible again.

Suddenly, the Earth began to shake beneath their feet. Adelaide lifted Rosie off the ground and held her while sprinting off the bridge. Seconds before the bridge collapsed, they made it safely to the other side. The two girls stood on the edge, watching the cars fall to their deaths and Adelaide wished there was something she could do. All those innocent people were dying because of them. Because of Ultron. How many of those were kids? All around, people were screaming in terror as the cracks slithered through the ground. Nowhere was safe. Another Ultron bot flew at her and Adelaide ran a metal pole through its chest. With the bot still on the pole, she threw it over the edge. Adelaide grabbed Rosie's hand and steered the little girl away from the edge. She crouched down to her eye level.

"You're gonna be alright, okay? We're going to find your grandmother," Adelaide told her, trying to convince herself as well. She wouldn't be lying if she said she was a little scared of what Ultron planned to do. Rosie watched the white-haired girl with big eyes.

"Your eyes are glowing!" the girl shouted in surprise. Adelaide sighed.

"Yeah," she said, "they do that." The ground beneath them began shaking and Adelaide ran with Rosie in her arms. There wasn't anyplace that was safe and Adelaide could only hope they wouldn't fall through a crack in the ground. Suddenly, Ultron's voice boomed through the sky. Adelaide looked up, squinting.

"Do you see the beauty of it?" he said, "The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword and the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

Another bot flew at her and Adelaide grabbed its head without even looking. She flung it against the side of a building like it was a ball. This time, two bots came at once.

"Rosie, hide!" she shouted over her shoulder before facing the bots. They were both flying low and Adelaide jumped seconds before one crashed into her. She came down on his back and then used his body to fling at the other bot, effectively eliminating two at once.

" _Cap, you got incoming,"_  Tony said over the earpiece. Adelaide pressed her finger on it, trying to hear them over the chaos.

" _Incoming already came in,"_  Steve groaned, " _Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed...walk it off."_ Adelaide tried to catch her breath. That sounded like one hell of a plan. She rolled her shoulders, grabbing the gun off her waist. This should be fun.

"Rosie, stay right here, okay?" Adelaide said. The girl nodded frantically. The poor thing looked terrified. Adelaide watched her for a second before handing her a small blade from her pocket.

"Keep yourself safe," Adelaide breathed and Rosie nodded. She watched the glowing-eyed girl run off, clutching the knife tightly in one hand while holding her doll close in the other. Outside, Adelaide took down bot after bot. At the moment, being an expert in martial arts didn't seem like such a bad thing. Suddenly, a particular redhead knocked out a bot behind Adelaide just before it got to the teenager.

Natasha smirked.

"What, can't focus?" Adelaide grinned.

"I just can't stop daydreaming about my boyfriend," she joked.

"Well," Natasha said, knocking down another bot and throwing it to Adelaide. The teenager caught it and slammed it into another bot that was flying at them. "get your head out of the clouds." Adelaide gave the assassin a look.

"The city is in the air, we're already in the clouds," she told her. Natasha just rolled her eyes, taking out another bot. Together, the two took out several bots. It was almost too easy. Adelaide glanced back at the building where she had hidden Rosie.

"You cover this area, I'll be right back," Adelaide said, running back to Rosie. Natasha watched the teenager, confused. Where the hell was she going? Suddenly, another bot came at the assassin and she turned away again. Adelaide ran into the building where she had left the girl last.

"Rosie?" she said. Adelaide turned a corner, finding the girl crouched in behind a table, shivering. Adelaide bent down.

"Hey, come on, let's go find your grandma," she said quietly and Rosie nodded. The girl was scared and Adelaide knew the only way to help her would be to return her to her grandmother. Adelaide helped her stand up and then the two girls ran out of the building hand in hand.

"Where did you see her last?" Adelaide asked. Rosie clutched her doll tightly.

"At the park, near our house," she said.

"Can you take me there?" Rosie nodded and began running in that direction. Adelaide followed after her. They turned a corner and Adelaide realized the park wasn't that far from where they were. Rosie led Adelaide into the park which must have looked beautiful once, before Ultron came and stomped on all the flowers. Speaking of, Adelaide just couldn't go long before another bot found her. She shot it in the neck and it began shaking. Taking advantage of that, Adelaide grabbed its shoulders and jammed the back of her gun into its chest. It fell over. Just then, another bot came flying towards her. Adelaide had no time to aim at it before it landed a cut on her arm. She yelped, grabbing her arm in pain. The blood began soaking through her suit. The bot came flying again and this time, she shot it out of the sky and it landed on the swing set, its circuits shorting.

Adelaide turned to Rosie again who was hiding behind a tree.

"Do you see your grandmother?" she asked. Rosie shook her head, tears filling her eyes. Adelaide sighed in frustration, looking at the crowd. Why did Ultron have to hurt these innocent people if all he wanted was the Avengers' extinction?

"Do you know where else she'd be?" Rosie thought about it for a second before nodding.

"The church," she said and began running away again. Adelaide kicked the bot on the ground before following the girl. The movement made her arm throb in pain again and Adelaide winced, trying to ignore it. It was just a small cut.

The church was farther away and there was no one by the the area, not even Ultron bots, although Adelaide wasn't complaining. This church seemed untouched by the chaos and destruction outside, minus a few cracks in the walls and the missing doors. Eyes wandering, Adelaide followed Rosie into the church. The teenager relaxed, knowing there were no bots here. She put her gun back into the hook on her waist.

The church wasn't very big, but it was definitely grand. There wasn't a detail left out in its design. Everything – even the entrance without the doors – seemed majestic. Inside, the lights were flickering, making the mosaics on the wall look eerie. At the end of the aisle, there was a single woman hunched over on her knees, rocking herself back and forth. Rosie dropped Adelaide's hand and ran towards the figure before the teenager could stop her.

"Grandma!" the girl shouted happily. The woman turned around quickly at the voice, eyes glowing with tears. Even then, she wasn't looking directly at Rosie and Adelaide realized her grandmother was blind. She felt a pang of sympathy in her heart. Rosie ran right into her grandmother's open arms, throwing her own arms around the woman.

"Rosie! Oh, Rosie, my goodness! You're alright! You're okay," her grandmother said through her tears, "I thought I'd lost you forever." Rosie pulled away and wiped the tears off of her grandmother's face.

"Don't cry, grandma. She saved my life," Rosie told her, pointing at Adelaide. Adelaide cleared her throat, unsure of what to say. She walked closer, waving awkwardly before realizing her grandmother couldn't see that.

"Um, hi," she said. Her grandmother reached out her hand and Adelaide put hers in it. The woman held Adelaide's hand with both of hers.

"Thank you," she whispered, tears falling over her eyes and Adelaide got down on her knees.

"It's fine, really. I would've been a jerk if I hadn't helped," Adelaide said with a small laugh. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this one? Rosie's grandmother was filled with gratitude. She was terrified of what might have become of her granddaughter if this girl hadn't helped, but she didn't want to think about that anymore. Her Rosie was here and she was safe. Adelaide stood up again.

"You're a brave girl, Rosie. Don't forget that," Adelaide said. Rosie nodded solemnly.

And then, as Adelaide began to turn away, it was like everything went wrong in a single heartbeat. One last heartbeat.

Adelaide heard Rosie scream her name. She turned back in surprise when the girl suddenly jumped at her, shoving Adelaide aside. Adelaide hit her head against the floor, her vision going blurry. Adelaide watched in horror as an Ultron bot shot a beam at Rosie's chest. Rosie stabbed his neck with the knife Adelaide had given her, making the bot begin to shake. And then, Adelaide heard the sound that would haunt her for years to come. Rosie fell to the ground, dropping the knife. Adelaide screamed, trying to catch Rosie.

Adelaide scrambled up, tearing the bot apart with her bare hands. She hurled him at the wall and the metal fell apart. Adelaide fell to her knees, taking Rosie into her lap. Her eyes were closed, but she was still clutching her doll in her hand. She cupped Rosie's cold cheek.

"Rosie," she cried, "Come on, Rosie." Slowly, Rosie lifted her doll, pushing it against Adelaide's chest. Adelaide took it into her hands carefully, her vision blurry from the tears. The doll had lost its illusion and it was broken and dusty again. Adelaide pulled the girl's hair away from her face, wiping her tears.

"Brave," Rosie whispered.

And then she dropped her hand, her eyes closing.

"No!" she shouted, hugging the girl. Adelaide hugged her close, hoping it would bring her back to life somehow. Her grandmother was clutching her heart, trying to see her little girl. She knew her little Rosie had always been beautiful, despite never being able to see her. She'd never asked for her eyesight back, she had never had it to begin with. Yet, sitting here in this church, all she wanted was to see, just this once. She wanted to see her little Rosie. Her beautiful, brave little Rosie. One last time.

"Rosie…" the woman cried, pain pouring out with her tears. Adelaide looked down at the small girl in her arms. All of a sudden, she seemed so fragile, delicate. It was her fault Rosie had died. If she hadn't been so careless...Adelaide had taken a little girl away from her grandmother. She'd killed her. Suddenly, Adelaide felt like poison. She began to see flashes of her vision. When she had killed Tony...Pepper...when she had pulled the trigger on herself.

 _Soon, you'll only have one friend_.

Adelaide handed the little girl to her grandmother, stumbling back. She had to get out of here; she couldn't breathe.

"I'm-I'm sorry," she said, before turning away and bolting out the door. She leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

Outside, it seemed that the bots were waiting for her. There were 4 of them. Adelaide didn't know which direction to defend herself from first. A bot flew at her, digging its metal fingers into her cut. She let out a scream, falling to the ground. She began seeing black spots in her vision, slowly fading out.

" _Adie?"_  Tony said over the earpiece, but his voice seemed distant. The pain was too overwhelming. Another bot took a hit at her, kicking her in the stomach. She groaned, rolling over.

" _Adie, come in."_  Rosie flashed before her eyes again. Adelaide clutched the doll in her hand tightly. It was her fault. Her fault, her carelessness that Rosie had died. How could she have let her guard down so easily? Another bot kicked her side. Suddenly, they were all on her at once, hitting her from everywhere. Pain shot up her side, her arm, her leg...everywhere.

_Soon, you'll only have one friend._

_One by one, you'll kill everybody. One by one, you'll destroy everyone you love._

_She doesn't deserve to live._

And then, she saw Rosie's face, heard her last words.

 _Brave_.

Rosie was brave. She was still young, but she had seen the horrors of the real world. She knew the value of a life. The truth in it. She had a heart big enough to push Adelaide away. Rosie had chose to save her life, Adelaide couldn't let that go to waste. She owed it to the girl who saved her life.

And then, it was like she had all the light inside of her. Energy surged through her veins making every nerve come to life.

 _Brave_.

Adelaide screamed, exploding with light. All of the bots were thrown off of her, dying instantly. She was flowing with power. Suddenly, a bot stumbled back up and held his arm out, preparing to shoot a beam at her. She hardly had enough time to register what was going on, confused as she felt. Then, the bot suddenly fell over and Adelaide turned around, spotting Iron Man with his arm held out.

A wave of dizziness swept over her and she lost her balance, but Tony had caught her before she fell.

"Got you," he said. She struggled to open her eyes, but when she did, she realized he was flying her to the top of a building nearby. He let her down gently and she crumbled to the ground, not even being able to hold her own weight. Tony opened his mask, revealing his concerned face behind it. He helped her sit up and Adelaide was barely managing to keep her eyes open. The pain. The memories. The vision.

"How…" Adelaide said. Her voice was raspy and she struggled to get the word out.

"I heard your scream," he mumbled,"but that's not important. What happened to you?" He gingerly examined the cut on her arm, wincing. It was bad, but it had stopped bleeding for now. She groaned, feeling the tears coming.

"I killed someone," she whispered. Rosie's face flashed before her eyes. She saw her grandmother. The pain Adelaide had caused her.

"She...She saved my life," Adelaide said, coughing. Her throat felt like sandpaper. "Tony...Rosie...she was young...so young." For the first time in his life, Tony Stark was at a loss for words. Seeing the teenager in this state, ripped him apart. She had been his responsibility. So, instead of saying anything, Tony pulled Adelaide close, letting her cry into his shoulder. And for the first time in his life, he felt absolutely helpless.

A short moment later, Adelaide forced herself to pull away. She needed to get it together. Adelaide leaned back, tugging at the doll's hair. The doll had a striking similarity to Rosie. They shared the same blonde hair and dark eyes, a warm smile. Adelaide looked up suddenly.

"You said you heard my scream," she said, "My com was turned off."

Tony searched the teenager's face. She did a good job at hiding the pain on her face, yet he could still see it in her glowing eyes. This was just a facade, but Tony didn't question it. He knew that she needed to redirect her mind until it was safe to be in pain again. He knew how that felt. All the Avengers knew how that felt. But it was wrong that Adie should know that feeling. She was still a teenager.

"I can still hear you even if you turn your com off, but don't worry about that right now," he said. He looked up, scanning the sky. There were more Ultron bots coming at them. "You up for killing some bots?"

Adelaide glanced at the doll in her hand and then put it in her pocket safely. She stood up. Adelaide followed Tony's gaze to the bots flying towards them and her face hardened, all the pain suddenly forgotten. She wanted nothing more than to tear those things apart like they were toys and then throw them in Ultron's face. She would avenge Rosie and every innocent civilian that had died because of them. She heard Tony cover his face with his mask behind her, getting into position. Adelaide made herself invisible and made other images of herself behind her. That should mess with their metal minds long enough for her to attack them.

They came fast and all at once. Instantly, they all began attacking her images who swiftly avoided each shot, keeping the bots busy while Adelaide took a blow at each one. She grabbed the first bot by its arm, twisting it off easily. Then she kicked it off the roof. Another bot came charging at her and she used the arm in her hand to knock it down.

"Aren't you supposed to be bringing us down?" Adelaide asked, bringing down her elbow on a bot's foot. It fell and Adelaide rolled away just in time. She got up, stomping on its head, crushing it under her foot.

"Oh, yeah," he muttered.

" _Stark,"_  Steve warned over their coms.

"Hey, kid, you got this?" Tony asked, pausing. Adelaide made herself visible again. Another bot came running at the billionaire from behind and Tony shot it without turning back. Distracted, a bot knocked Adelaide off of her feet and she stumbled over the side of the building. She gasped, trying to get ahold of something to stop her fall. For the second time within the past 10 minutes, Tony came to her rescue. He caught her and then gently lowered her onto the ground, making sure she wasn't going to fall over before stepping back.

"You okay?" he asked, concerned. Adelaide nodded weakly.

"Go," she said quietly. Tony hesitated for a moment before he flying off. As soon as he left, Adelaide could see the remaining bots making their way down towards her. Adelaide glanced around. They were at the edge and people were huddled around in fear. The Sokovians looked at the strange, glowing, blue-eyed girl with hope. They were relying on her to save them because there was nothing they could do. Her eyes landed on a little girl hiding behind her mother. That should've been Rosie. She should still be alive. And then, Adelaide turned around, eyes gleaming over with determination. If Rosie could sacrifice her life, then so could she. Adelaide made herself invisible again; she felt more comfortable fighting that way.

_Brave._

The bots came flying in, whizzing past her. She began tearing them apart, using them against each other, recycling their parts to hurt the other bots. It was her, against all of them. The Sokovians had never seen this particular girl before. Her white hair and glowing eyes seemed a bit unsettling to them. Where had she come from? Adelaide began to tire out, her wounded arm begging for her to stop. There was a dull, throbbing pain running through it and it was slowly becoming useless. She had to think of something, fast before these bots managed to hurt the civilians. Just as a bot hit her wounded arm, Adelaide saw a flash of a familiar red glow. She made herself visible, making eye contact with the witch before turning invisible again. Wanda nodded brusquely and the began to take on the bots together. Adelaide wounded them and Wanda pulled them apart like cotton. Soon, the wave of bots was gone and Adelaide made herself visible again.

"Thanks," Adelaide managed, out of breath.

"I owe it to you," the girl answered and Adelaide studied her for a second. The teenager just couldn't figure her out. Adelaide set her lips into a straight line and nodded. A moment later, the two girls ran back into the city, trying to help the other civilians.

" _The next wave is gonna hit any minute,"_  Steve said in the earpiece and Adelaide groaned. How many of these junkbots had Ultron made? Wanda searched inside the building while Adelaide looked through the windows.

" _What do you got, Stark?"_

" _Huh? Nothing great,"_  he replied, making her heart sink, " _Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."_

" _I asked for a solution, not an escape plan,"_  Steve said. Tony wanted to blow up the city? Was there really no other way out of this? The two helped a group of families out of the building, leading them to the others.

" _Impact radius is getting bigger every second, we're gonna have to make a choice."_

" _Cap these people are going nowhere,"_ Natasha said _. "If Stark finds a way to blow up this rock…"_ He couldn't do that! There were still several civilians on the rock and they had done nothing to deserve this. There had to be another way. They had to find another way.

" _Not till everyone's safe,"_  Steve muttered and Adelaide couldn't agree more.

" _Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there,"_  Natasha argued. Adelaide steered a family of three to the crowd, watching their backs as they ran. How could they do this to these people?

" _I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it,"_  Steve said.

" _I didn't say we should leave,"_  Natasha said. Adelaide looked at Wanda and the teenager's face softened. The two shared a subtle nod, agreeing that if they had to go, they would all go together.

" _There's worse ways to go...Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"_  Natasha said and Adelaide looked up. They were with the clouds and the view was surreal, as much as she hated to admit. Natasha had a point; there are worse ways to go. Adelaide glanced at Wanda who was looking out at the sky, too. The teenager realized this was Wanda's country, her home. She'd spent her whole life here just to watch everything fall apart.

"I never thought I'd see the day when my country was in the sky," Wanda said quietly with a small laugh. There was no humor in it, just sadness. Adelaide didn't feel anger towards the witch anymore. She had been doing what she thought was right at the time. Adelaide might have done the same in her place.

" _Glad you like the view, Romanoff,"_ Fury suddenly said over their coms, " _It's about to get better."_ Suddenly, the famous helicarrier appeared next to the rock.

" _Nice, right? Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do,"_ he said. At the moment, she loved Fury and his dramatic entrance. He definitely knew how to save a flying country.

" _Fury, you son of a bitch,"_  Steve said, though Adelaide could hear the smile in his voice.

" _Ooho! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"_  came Fury's retort and Adelaide rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. Suddenly, lifeboats flew out of the helicarrier, each one stopping just by the edge of the rock.

" _This is SHIELD?"_  said Pietro.

" _This is what SHIELD's supposed to be,"_  Steve said.

" _This is not so bad."_  Wanda smiled.

" _Let's load 'em up!"_  Steve said and Adelaide and Wanda instantly moved into action. They began directing the crowds onto the lifeboat closest to them. Adelaide helped the officers load everyone onto the boat, telling them to calm down. In all honesty, everyone looked relieved. Adelaide definitely  _felt_  relieved. These people were all going to be safe.

" _Thor, I got a plan,"_  Tony said. His voice sounded strained.

" _We're out of time,"_  the god answered, " _They're coming for the core."_

" _Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier."_

" _On it,"_ Rhodey replied swiftly.

" _Avengers, time to work for a living."_

"Watch your step," Adelaide told a man as he boarded the boat. Then, confident the Sokovian officers could handle this, she began making her way to the core – Wanda was already there. But just as she was about to leave, a bot flew at the crowd, making them scramble and scream in terror. Adelaide immediately turned herself invisible and lunged at the bot, latching onto him in the air. She shook him until he lost balance and then they both fell to the ground, rolling over in a fight. The civilians watched the robot's arm get twisted by seemingly nothing and it was like he was being held down by nothing. They glanced at one another, confused. Suddenly, the glowing, blue-eyed girl from earlier appeared over the bot. Adelaide jumped off the bot just in time to avoid the beam he shot at her. She rolled in the dirt, coughing before standing up. She glanced over her back at the crowd standing behind her. The officers were holding their fire, but their guns were aimed. In the crowd, a certain boy secretly pulled out his phone, beginning to record the fight between the strange bot and even stranger white-haired, glowing-eyed girl. He imagined how popular he'd be if he ever got out of this alive.

Meanwhile, the bot had grabbed ahold of Adelaide's throat and she was struggling to get it off. All the bullets the officers fired bounced off of it harmlessly as if they were plastic darts. She clawed at his hands, anger bubbling up in her chest. She  _hated_  these stupid bots more than anything and she wanted to kick his robot ass off of this rock. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming buzzing of anger in her veins and then she pushed back with an extreme force, causing the robot to fly off of her. It hit a building and then crumbled to the ground. Adelaide gasped, trying to breathe and sit up.

" _Adie? We need all hands on deck,"_  Tony said with a groaned and Adelaide scrambled up. She turned around and gave the crowd a weary nod before running away.

" _Keep your panties on, I'm coming,"_  she breathed. When she got there, the next wave of bots was already there, trying to get their hands on the core. Suddenly, Natasha came running up behind her.

"Where's the drill?" she asked. Tony pointed to the circular metal in the middle.

"This is the drill. If Ultron gets his hands on the core, we lose." Adelaide felt a shiver up her spine just at the thought. She couldn't even imagine the death count if Ultron got his way. Speaking of the metal-headed devil…

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouted at him. Adelaide winced. This might be her first out on a mission like this, but she knew to never ask that question. Ultron raised his hand, holding up two fingers and moving them back and forth. Instantly, his whole army of Ultron bots came running towards them.

"You had to ask," Steve muttered and Adelaide let out a breath.

" _This_  is the best I can do," Ultron said and the teenager was reminded how much she hated his voice.

"This is exactly what I wanted," he continued, "All of you, against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well," Tony said, "like the old man said...together." The Hulk roared with anger, pulling his arms together.

And then, the fight began.

The bots came from every direction. Adelaide tore apart each one, repeating Rosie's last words in her mind. Every time she heard the sound in her head of Rosie's body hitting the ground, Adelaide grew angrier. She shot at them with her gun, hitting her target perfectly each time and not letting a single bot get close to the core. In those moments, she was surging with energy from head to toe, heaving with anger. For the first time since she woke up at the Tower, she felt  _alive_.

In the distance, she heard Ultron groan with impatience. He flew up and Vision held him off in the air, fighting. Ultron threw Vision against the wall, but he aimed the power from the stone on his head, pushing Ultron backwards slowly. Thor concentrated his powers through his hammer, aiming it at Ultron. Tony turned around, blasting his beam at the AI as well. With the three attacking him at once, Ultron began melting until he fell back and the three heroes stopped. Ultron groaned.

"You know," he began, "with the benefits of hindsight…" Suddenly, the Hulk appeared in front of him and he punched the metal idiot off the rock with a roar. The other bots next to him began flying off of the rock, running away. Cowards.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor said.

"We can't let them, not even one," Tony said, "Rhodey."

" _I'm on it."_

"We gotta move out," Steve said, "Even I can tell the air is getting thin." He was right. Adelaide had to start taking deeper breaths to keep herself going.

"You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda said, "It's my job." Adelaide looked up. Wanda made eye contact with her and Adelaide understood. The girl was redeeming herself. She needed to do this, even if part of the reason was for herself. Clint nodded.

"Nat, kid. This way," he said and the redhead and teenager followed after him. Adelaide stopped, glancing back at the witch who gave her a small smile. Adelaide found herself returning it before turning around and running away. Wanda turned back, facing her twin.

"Get the people on the boats," she ordered.

"I'm not going to leave you here," he said, shaking his head.

"I can handle this." Suddenly, a bot came running from her left and she knocked him down with her powers. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Pietro grunted in agreement, annoyed. Why did she always have to be right?

"You understand?" she asked, stopping him as he was leaving. He turned around, a cocky smile on his face.

"You know, I'm 12 minutes older than you," he said. Wanda laughed, something she hadn't done in a while.

"Go," she said, smiling.

He grinned and sped off, leaving his twin sister behind.

By the boats, Adelaide was helping the civilians board the boat, reassuring them that they were safe.

"Nice and easy," she said, "Find a seat." She searched the boat for Rosie's grandmother, but Adelaide couldn't see her anywhere. Panicking, Adelaide began searching all the other boats for her, but she was there. Adelaide began losing control of her breathing and she tried to calm herself down. She was probably still in the church. She took in a deep breath. The church wasn't that far from here. She would make it back in time. Adelaide took off, running in the direction of the church. She head Clint shout her name behind her, but she ignored him. She couldn't leave her grandmother here to die. She arrived at the church and stood by the entrance, trying to catch her breath. Adelaide felt a pang in her chest, seeing flashes of that moment before her again. She swallowed, taking a deep breath before stepping inside.

Her grandmother was right where she had been before, still holding Rosie in her arms. Adelaide bent over carefully, gently laying a hand on her back. She was asleep and her body was shuddering with each breath under Adelaide's hand. When she felt Adelaide's hand, she jerked up, holding the knife in her hand.

"Who is it!" she shouted. Adelaide looked at with sadness.

"It's just me," she said quietly. Her grandmother didn't move for a second and then she dropped the knife, crumbling into Adelaide's arms. The teenager held her close, rubbing her back.

"You need to get to safety," Adelaide told her, pulling away. She shook her head.

"There's no point," she said, "I have no life to live without her."

"I'm sorry," Adelaide found herself saying, "It's my fault. If I hadn't been so careless, if I just looked or...or if I had my gun out and —"

"It's not your fault," her grandmother said suddenly, "it's not anyone's fault. It was her choice. If her mother were here, she would be so, so proud." Adelaide looked at Rosie lying in her grandmother's lap. Her cheeks had lost their color, but Adelaide could almost pretend she was sleeping.

"She'd want you to take care of that," Her grandmother said and Adelaide realized she was talking about the doll in her hand. She didn't question how she knew Adelaide was holding it. She held it tighter.

"With my life," Adelaide said. They were both silent for a long time, just listening to each other breathing.

"We have to go. Now," Adelaide said, "You want to bury her properly, right?" Her grandmother closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The girl was right. Rosie deserved a proper burial. With great pain, she began to stand up, her hand never leaving Rosie's. Adelaide helped the woman up and carried Rosie in her arms. Together, the two began to walk out of the church without looking back. The moment the stepped outside, a bot flew at them. Adelaide ducked seconds before it hit her. She handed Rosie to her grandmother quickly before the bot came back.

"Go!" she shouted, "Get to the lifeboats!"

When the woman didn't move, she shouted, "I can handle this! You take her and go!"

She stood there for a second before nodding and quickly walking away. Adelaide turned her attention to the bot, remembering what Tony had said. They had to kill each and every bot and not even one could be left or Ultron would still be undefeated. She knew Rhodey had taken care of the bots that had escaped, which meant this one must be one of the last ones. She got into position, light weaving around her hands, her power tingling her fingertips. The bot flew at her and Adelaide got a feeling this one was different. It was desperate to win. But so was she.

When he got close enough, Adelaide fired her gun at him and he staggered back, but didn't fall. He flew back again, landing just behind her. She turned around just in time to avoid the beam he fired at her. Before she had time to pull herself together again, he shot again and Adelaide fell, losing her balance. He came closer, firing beams quickly and Adelaide narrowly avoided them. She caught a moment between the firing to roll away and jump up. Before he could react, she fired at his leg, making him lose balance. Taking advantage of that, she held up her gun again, shooting him everywhere until she heard a click from her gun. She tossed it aside, jumping onto the bot while it was still on the ground. Adelaide dug her fingers into the space behind his neck, ripping the metal off.

She realized she was crying, but it was from anger.

"This is for hurting me," she said, grasping a group of wires and pulling them off. His arm twisted around, grabbing for her.

"This is for destroying Sokovia," she said, twisting his arm off. It was getting really hard to breathe at this height and Adelaide was gasping for air. She stood up, turning the bot over. He had stopped fighting back a long time ago. Slowly, she bent down and grabbed his metal head with both of her hands.

"And this," Adelaide breathed, "is for killing Rosie."

She tore his head off and threw it at the church wall. Adelaide fell to her knees, too tired to hold up herself anymore. She had overused her powers; she was exhausted. The teenager sat there in the dirt next to the pile of metal, trying to stop crying. She cried about Rosie. She cried about her mother, her father, the lullaby, the life she couldn't remember living, the horrors branded into her brain...she cried about everything until she had no tears left to shed. Adelaide felt as if she was broken into a million pieces that were scattered too far to put back together.

Suddenly, the ground began shaking beneath her and she scrambled up, looking around.

" _Adie...please tell me you're on one of the boats,"_  said Tony. She watched in amazement as her feet were lifted off the ground and she came to a terrible realization. The rock was falling.

"I'm still here," she whispered, terrified. She was going to die. She was really going to die. And she couldn't even cry.

" _Hold on!"_

As if it could possibly get any worse, the ground began cracking beneath her feet. Suddenly, there was a wave of light sweeping across the entire rock and then everything crumbled and Adelaide was falling in the sky. She was falling towards the ground along with the rocks that were once Sokovia. She closed her eyes, hoping it would be quick and painless. This was the end.

Suddenly, she noticed a familiar flash of red and yellow flying towards her. She blinked and when she opened her eyes, she was in Iron Man's arms, swerving around the huge rocks falling on them.

"How many times am I going to have to catch you before you learn to stop falling?" he said and Adelaide sighed, relief coursing through her veins.

She wasn't going to die. Not today.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this chapter is (unfortunately) the last chapter from Age of Ultron and a lot of it is literally just wrapping up emotions and loose ends. It starts with some inner monologue from Adelaide. You know how in movies the character is talking, but like on the screen they're just driving or something? It's like that. Picture Adie sitting in a car, looking out the window, wind blowing in her hair, and you hear her voiceover saying what she's thinking. I don't know if I'm making any sense. Anyway, there's gonna be a little more of Wanda in this scene and THE BIG REVEAL. You guys FINALLY get to see what Adie's superhero name is gonna be and I think it sounds pretty menacing and suits her power perfectly. Once again, I just wanna thank the people who helped me out with that because it really helped me make a decision even though it took a whole week after that. Maybe the other name that I didn't pick but really wanted to can be for another fic. Lmao let me just try to get through this one first.
> 
> The rest of the chapter after The Reveal is just Adie wrapping up her emotions and expressing how the past month or so has been for her and how she's been handling it. Also, you know how we've been kind of having a Graves drought for a while now? Well, I fixed that. Oh, and I swear he killed Ross for a reason. You'll see why in this chapter.

* * *

_"We're gonna_

_have so much fun_

_together."_

* * *

_NEW AVENGERS FACILITY_

_MAY 28, 2015_

_It's been 22 days since the Battle of Sokovia and 22 nights since I've gotten any sleep._

_I still think about her. Every breathing moment of my day, I think about her. She's always on my mind. I keep the doll close. Tony helped me fix it up and I'm sure Rosie would be proud of how beautiful it looked now. Just like her. She comes in my nightmares and I have to watch her die over and over again in a million different ways. I don't know how many more times I can watch it._

_Ever since the battle, I've toyed with the idea of death in my mind. It's...different. An escape from all the horrors and suffering of reality. In the moment that I was falling through the sky, I felt death. It was so close, whispering in my ear to come closer. But in that moment, I knew that there was so much more I wanted to do before I died. Although I'm not sure if I'll ever get my memories back, that wasn't one of the things I wanted to do. I wanted to feel alive again. I wanted to be comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to get to know who Adelaide Maxwell Rivers really was. I ask myself that a lot. Who am I? Until recently, I've been stumbling around clumsily in attempts to find the answer. But now...now I know in my heart that the answer will come to me one day. I've stopped searching and, instead, I've started to build my own identity. Not many people have the chance to start over. I had that chance. My life started over the day I woke up in the Tower. Now, I'm making my own person, my new life._

_There are only two people in this world that I'd give my life for because I know they would do the same for me. Tony and Pepper haven't left my side since the battle. They've been my pillars, my crutches. They've been there to help to stand up again. It's been hard to let go when rock bottom felt so comfortable. Somewhere deep down, I know this isn't the last time I'm going to fall. I know that I'm going to have to rebuild myself over and over again until I create a new identity._

_It's not going to be easy, but I wouldn't have it any other way._

"It's kind of quiet, don't you think?" Tony asked, eyes on the road. Adelaide turned away from the window, smiling at the billionaire. He smiled in return and then reached for the music button. Adelaide leaned her head back, taking a deep breath. She loved the smell of fresh air, untouched by the pollution of the city.

"You still planning on going back to school after this?" he asked after a while. Adelaide looked out the window again, watching the trees. She hadn't been to school since the day Tony had thrown the party. It had been a little over a month, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to go back there yet. It felt too soon.

"I don't know," she answered and Tony glanced at her sideways.

"You only have a month left before it's out," he said. She shrugged in reply and then Tony dropped the subject. Not long after, they arrived at the newly built Avengers facility. Adelaide got out of the car and headed inside while Tony went to park it. Not many people knew her here. Well, they knew who she was when she was fighting: the white-haired, glowing-eyed girl, but they didn't know Adelaide Rivers. Adelaide wanted to keep it that way. She felt more comfortable keeping her superhero identity a secret. After looking through several unfamiliar faces, she bumped into Hill who showed her where the others were. She thanked her and headed upstairs slowly, trying to take everything in.

Upstairs, she found Rhodey and Wanda sitting around, watching tv.

"Hey," Adelaide said as the door closed behind her.

"Adelaide!" Rhodey said, running up to greet her. It had been a while since she'd seen him. She smiled.

"So how are the new stories doing?" she asked. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Trust me, the War Machine always has good stories," he said. Adelaide raised her eyebrow.

"You sure about that?"

"Tony's gotten into your head," he said with a small laugh, "He's a terrible influence." She definitely agreed with him on that. Adelaide looked past Rhodey at Wanda whose eyes were fixed on the tv in front of her.

"I've gotta go," Rhodey said suddenly, making Adelaide look away, "Duty calls. I'll see you around." He patted her shoulder. Adelaide smiled politely, nodding.

"Yeah, see you." She stood there awkwardly for a second after she heard the door close.

"You can sit, if you want," Wanda said, making room on the couch for the teenager. Adelaide sat down next to her, stiff. It was still strange for her to see how normal the witch was. After the battle at the Salvage Yard, Adelaide had created an image of the witch in her mind and pegged her as a terrible person. It was hard to look past that now and Adelaide didn't really know her that well to do so. Tony had told her that Pietro had died, saving Clint's life. Both of the twins had had a change of heart after they sided with the Avengers.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Adelaide said after a moment of staring at the tv. Wanda just nodded, eyes never leaving the screen. They both were silent for a long time, just watching the tv. Adelaide hadn't watched tv in a while either. At the moment, there were news about the Avengers saving lives in Sokovia. Adelaide took a deep breath, seeing the images. She didn't want to see that all again. She wondered how hard it must be for Wanda to watch her country getting destroyed.

"You're famous," Wanda said suddenly and Adelaide looked at her.

"What do you mean?" The witch smiled, gestured to the tv. There was a clip of her fighting one the bots in Sokovia. At first, it seemed like the bot was being held down by nothing until, suddenly, Adelaide appeared over him. Her face was flushed, making the high cheekbones from her disguise look even higher. And with her white hair all over the place and her blue eyes glowing, she looked dangerous. The screen switched to a blonde sitting at a table in a broadcasting room.

" _And there you have it. Exclusive footage of a rumored new Avenger. Witnesses say she was strange, terrifying, and kind all at once. One person even said, 'It was like she was there one second and invisible the next. You could never know where she really was. And her eyes. I can still see them glowing blue if I close my eyes. It was supernatural.' The people have found a new name for this strange girl and have began to call her the Blue Phantom because of her phantom-like abilities. Tune in tonight to get more information on what we know about this new superhero. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the Blue Phantom."_

Adelaide didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected to be  _noticed_. She was just there with the Avengers, helping. She hadn't considered herself an Avenger. Although, Pepper would definitely not agree with that decision. Even then, seeing the video of herself fighting the bot made something flutter in her chest. In some way, the Battle of Sokovia had been her shot at redemption. Maybe she didn't need redemption or maybe what she did wouldn't be enough, but she did know it made her feel proud of herself for the first time. And the Blue Phantom sounded pretty awesome. Wanda noticed a small smile on the teenager's face.

"The Blue Phantom," Wanda said aloud, "It has a nice ring to it." Adelaide nodded.

"Yeah, it does." She liked it. The Blue Phantom was a girl who helped saved lives in Sokovia. She was a superhero and she was Adelaide's key to redemption.

"Listen," Wanda said suddenly, pulling Adelaide out of her thoughts, "I want to apologize for what I did to you. I was a different person then. I was angry and vengeful."

"I know," Adelaide said quietly, her mind wandering to the vision she had had. She had to keep herself from shivering at the thought.

"So we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good. Although, I should probably apologize for calling you a bitch." Wanda laughed.

"Don't," she said, waving her hand, "I was one."

"Yeah," Adelaide agreed, smiling, "You were." Wanda used her powers to telekinetically bring two cans of beer to the couch and she handed one to Adelaide. The teenager realized this was the third time she drank alcohol since the start of Ultron. She shrugged to herself, popping it open.

"What do you Americans say again…?" Wanda said, opening her can. Adelaide grinned, bumping her can to Wanda's.

"Cheers!"

"To the Blue Phantom," Wanda said.

"And to end of Ultron," Adelaide added, a silly grin on her face. As she was drinking the beer, she knew this wasn't the end, it was only the beginning.

* * *

"The rules have changed."

"We're dealing with something new," Tony said.

"Oh, the Vision is artificial intelligence," Steve said.

"A machine," the billionaire agreed.

"So it doesn't count?"

"No, it's not like it's a person lifting the hammer," Tony said, shrugging. The Asgardian looked between the two, amused.

"Right," the super soldier said, "different rules for us."

"Nice guy," Tony said, "artificial." Thor chuckled.

"He can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone," Thor said, "It's safe with the Vision...and these days safe is in short supply." The three Avengers were quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

"But if you put the hammer in an elevator…" Steve prompted.

"It would still go up," Tony said. Steve shook his head.

"Elevator's not worthy." Thor smiled to himself and patted the billionaire on his shoulder.

"I'm gonna miss these little talks of ours," Thor said.

"Not if you don't leave," Tony said. Thor smiled. He began walking and the other two followed.

"I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position…"

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony said.

"You think you can find out what's coming?" Steve asked. They were outside now, the sounds of agents training floating down.

"I do," Thor said and then he glanced at Tony, "Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained." The god walked forward, making room for his teleportation. He turned around and nodded at the two Avengers. Little did he know it would be a while until he saw them again. And the next time he saw them, the universe would be a different place. The god lifted his hammer into the sky and a portal opened up, taking the Asgardian with it and leaving a burning signature mark on the grass.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony remarked, looking at the super soldier. The two turned and walked away. "I'm gonna miss him, though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears." The billionaire reached into his pocket and commanded for his car to come out of the garage.

"I will miss you, Tony," the super soldier said.

"Yeah?"

"I'll miss you too, Captain," Adelaide said, walking towards them. Tony glanced at her and then his car.

"So if I press this button, you come along with the car?" the billionaire asked and Adelaide rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. Tony noticed she looked a lot brighter than she was when they came here. He wondered where she'd been this whole time.

"Well, it's time for me to tap out," Tony said, walking closer to his car, "Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper and Adie a farm, hope nobody blows it up." That didn't sound like such a terrible idea to the teenager. Steve nodded.

"The simple life."

"You'll get there one day," Tony said.

"I don't know. Family, stability...the guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out." Tony nodded understandingly and then reached for his car door. Adelaide went around to the other side, opening her own door but not getting inside just yet.

"You all right?" Tony asked the super soldier before stepping inside. Steve inhaled, nodding. He glanced at the teenager.

"I'm home."

* * *

_STARK TOWER_

_A FEW WEEKS LATER_

Adelaide gently ran her thumb over the doll's cheek, sighing. She leaned her head against her chair on the balcony, closing her eyes. She breathed in, inhaling the smell of the city. It felt so familiar. She opened her eyes again, watching the skyline as the sun set into it. She would be lying if she'd said that she hadn't missed the city even with all its noise and traffic. Even with all the chaos, this was like her haven. She didn't feel safe anywhere else.

"Sunbathing only works when the sun is out," Tony said, walking on the balcony. He sat down in the chair next to her, pulling it closer.

"I could say the same for your sunglasses," she remarked, gesturing to the pair he was wearing at the moment.

"What? These? Oh, no, these are smart glasses. I've got FRIDAY on them."

"Of course they are," she mumbled, looking back at the sunset. The sun was beginning to disappear quickly and the sky was getting darker.

"You okay?" Tony asked, pulling off his smart glasses and hooking them to his shirt. Adelaide glanced down at the doll in her hand, fixing her hair.

"I think I'm gonna be," she answered softly. She cleared her throat.

"You?" He nodded.

"This isn't the first time," he said, chuckling although he didn't sound amused. The two stared at the setting sun together, lost in their own thoughts. Sokovia felt worlds away, like a terrible nightmare in the back of her mind that she wanted to forget.

"Still no sign of Bruce?" Adelaide asked, turning her head to look at Tony. He sighed, shaking his head.

"Nothing." Adelaide's shoulders slumped. Whether she admitted it or not, she had grown somewhat close to Bruce. He was someone she went to when she needed good advice or just a long lecture about something that was completely beyond her understanding to use as a distraction.

"How's Nat doing?" the teenage asked. Everyone on the team had noticed that there was something going on between the two. She knew Nat was probably hung up over the fact that she was wrong that Bruce and the Hulk could ever be the same person.

"She's made herself busy training the greenies, but I think she's gonna be fine," Tony answered. Adelaide sighed. She wondered when she was ever going to meet Bruce again, if ever. And Thor. He might be a little crazy, but he knew how to have fun. She was going to miss him, too. It was crazy how much just one mishap could change their lives completely.

Tony stood up with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You gonna be alright?" Adelaide smiled, taking a deep breath.

"I'm home," she answered, mimicking Steve. Tony looked at her for a second before smiling and ruffling her hair. Adelaide reached up, fixing her hair as he walked back inside. She looked out at the sky again. The city, the noise, the traffic, the lights...she really was home. Suddenly, her phone buzzed and she realized it was a call from Peter.

"Hey," she answered.

" _Hey, what're you up to?"_ he asked.

"Not much. You?"

" _Homework,"_ he groaned. She grinned.

"And talking on the phone will get it done faster how…?"

" _Don't start, Ada,"_ he said and Adelaide could hear the smile in his voice, " _Anyway, I've been dying to tell you about what happened in gym this morning. I swear Flash peed his pants a little."_ Flash peeing his pants? What could've possibly happened? Adelaide sighed. She always missed the good stuff.

"What happened?"

" _Wait, first, I have to tell you about the new coach. His name is Coach Graves and he's just as scary as he sounds. He's this big, burly guy who could probably sneeze and I'd fall over. He's so huge! And get this, he wears an eyepatch! I mean, how many guys nowadays do you see wearing eyepatches? He creeps everyone out."_ Adelaide let out a breath. An eyepatch? She was reminded of Fury and how he had freaked her out originally. But this guy sounded scary even through the phone.

"He sounds strange," Adelaide said, wrinkling her nose. There was this ticklish feeling at the back of her mind, but it was so out of reach, she didn't bother to try remembering. It was probably something she'd forgotten to do.

" _He is. So the other day, we were all in gym and Flash raised his hand and asked Coach Graves where he had gotten the eyepatch from and you know what he said?"_

"What?" she breathed.

" _He glared at Flash and said, 'You want one too, kid?'"_ Adelaide laughed. That should teach Flash a lesson.

" _I know,"_ Peter said, " _Ned and I were laughing too until he looked us. I kinda liked Coach Stiles better than this guy. The worst thing about him was his powdered fingers. Coach Graves...he's too scary."_  They were both quiet for a little while and Adelaide sighed, looking at her doll. She traced the  _R_  stitched onto the breast pocket of the doll's dress with her finger.

" _Tomorrow's the last day of school...are you coming?"_  Peter asked. She sighed again, looking down at the street. It was starting to get dark now and the city lights were beginning to turn on, one by one. She absentmindedly traced her finger over the scar on her arm. One of the first things Adelaide had done after coming home from Sokovia was search up the lullaby, trying to find the whole song. She had found it, but it hadn't brought back any more memories like she'd hoped. It was frustrating. Every night since then, she listened to the lullaby while falling asleep – it was the only thing that helped. The lullaby helped her feel closer to her mother and that was the closest she could ever get.

" _Ada?"_

"Hm? Oh, sorry," she mumbled, shaking out of her thoughts.

" _So are you? Coming, I mean."_ Adelaide fixed the doll's shirt. She always kept it close, on her nightstand, but it had been two months since the incident. She took a deep breath, holding the doll closer to her chest. It was time to move on. She would never forget what happened on May 6 at Sokovia. She would never forget Rosie, but she had to accept the fact that it was time to move on.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

* * *

Adelaide had missed their little talks over lunch. They never failed to be entertaining. Right now, they were gushing about the Blue Phantom. Which she didn't mind at all.

"Blue Phantom versus the Scarlet Witch," Ned prompted. His lunch tray was left untouched as he was too excited about the topic.

"Do they use their powers or no?" Peter asked, biting into his sandwich.

"Duh, of course," Ned said.

"Definitely the Blue Phantom," Adelaide said, sipping her water. She and Wanda hadn't exactly fought each other, but Adelaide liked to think that she'd win. How was Wanda supposed to attack her if she couldn't see her?

"No, I think it would be the Scarlet Witch," Peter said, shaking his head. Ned gaped at him.

"Seriously, dude? The Scarlet Witch does not stand a chance," Ned said and Adelaide couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah, right," Peter scoffed and Adelaide rolled her eyes. Even though they could both be big dorks sometimes, Adelaide was more than grateful for them. She showed up at school two months later, on the last day without an excuse for her absence and they didn't pester her with questions. There was just the 'Hey, are you okay?' or 'I'm glad you're back.' She was glad they could understand that she needed her space. Maybe one day, she'd tell them what really happened, but, right now, she wasn't ready. Although Peter didn't ask his friend any questions, he couldn't help but feel curious. He'd known her for a few months now, but she still felt like a stranger. He couldn't figure her out; she was a big mystery. She disappeared for two whole months and whenever they talked on the phone, her answers were always very vague. He had no idea where she'd been these past two months and the curiosity was burning inside of him like a hot flame.

"I heard the Blue Phantom came from her another planet, like Thor and that's why her eyes glow," Ned said. It was Adelaide's turn to scoff.

"You think she's an alien?" she asked with a small laugh, "That's ridiculous."

"Then how do you explain the glowing eyes?" Peter asked. Adelaide shrugged. She had asked Bruce to look into that a while ago, but he said that whenever she used her powers, the energy inside of her glowed. He told her the only way she could get her eyes to stop glowing would be to stop using her powers. Adelaide had tried to use the light to dim the glowing, but, if anything, they became brighter. After a lot of failed attempts, she admitted defeat. Although, she didn't exactly mind – it made her look menacing. It just meant that she'd have to be careful using her powers in public.

"It's the energy, it makes her eyes glow," Adelaide said, biting into her apple. Peter and Ned glanced at each other. It made sense. The bell rang, signalling that it was time for the end of the year assembly. They held a pep rally each year to sign off the eighth graders to high school. Adelaide had never been to a pep rally before and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little excited. The three dumped their trays in the trash and joined the group of eighth graders heading towards the gym, their discussion about the Blue Phantom still ongoing. Adelaide had taken a step back and was just listening to them talk about the new superhero instead of joining the discussion.

Once they got to the gym, the teachers directed them onto the bleachers, filling up each row. The crowd was filled with excited chatter. Adelaide, Ned, and Peter sat closer to the bottom. The teachers were running around, trying to get everything in place. There was a giant banner hanging from the ceiling, wishing goodbye to the eighth graders. The speakers were blasting music at full volume. Adelaide saw Ned's lips move, but she couldn't hear a word. He raised his voice so that he was practically shouting.

"Have you heard about the new coach?" he shouted. Adelaide nodded. Ned pointed to a man in khakis at the far end of the gym.

"That's him!" Peter shouted. Adelaide squinted her eyes, but she couldn't make out his face, or even the eye patch. She shrugged, deciding she'll see him when he comes closer. Slowly, the music quieted down and so did the chatter.

"Alright eighth graders!" Mr. Kingsley, the biology teacher, shouted into the microphone, "ARE YOU READY?"

The crowd screamed happily, stomping their feet on the bleachers in excitement. The sound was deafening.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The crowd screamed louder this time and Mr. Kingsley grinned, satisfied.

"That's better," he said, laughing, "Alright, now I know most of you are excited for the rally, but first, I want you give a huge round of applause for our new coach! He's done an excellent job at stepping into our beloved Coach Ross' shoes and I'm excited to announce that he will be transferring to Midtown High as the head coach just as Coach Ross would have done. Let's give it up for Coach Graves!" Adelaide could tell the applause and cheering wasn't as loud as it was for Mr. Kingsley and she got the idea that not many kids liked him. Adelaide glanced down, noticing her shoelaces were untied and she bent down to tie them.

"Thank you, thank you Mr. Kingsley." Adelaide froze, her finger wrapped around the shoelace. The voice made a shiver run up her spine and she felt her throat tightening. She swallowed, trying to control her breathing.

"Look!" she heard Ned whisper, tapping her shoulder, "It's him!" A terrible feeling had settled into her gut as she leaned back up. She licked her dry lips, looking at Ned. He pointed to the man standing in the middle of the gym, much closer than he was before. Slowly, Adelaide turned her head to look at him.

He was looking right at her and he had a smile on his face. Adelaide felt her head exploding with agonizing pain and she dug her nails into the palm of her hand. He lifted the microphone to his mouth, his eyes never leaving her.

"We're gonna have so much fun together."

And that was the last thing she heard before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so you know how all the superheroes (except Black Widow, but I heard she's got a director) have their own movies? Well, picture this next chunk of the story is Adelaide's movie. She's got a villain to fight, a little sideline romance, cool powers, etc. I have the name for it, too. Are you ready? Alright, here it is.
> 
> Blue Phantom: Dawn of Truth
> 
> Cool, right? I am seriously so excited for this. Also, Peter's gonna get bitten by a spider and he's gonna get powers and Ben's gonna die and ohmygod I'm literally bouncing in my seat from excitement! It's gonna be awesomeeeee.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter has a little time jump from the previous one which ended in a cliffhanger...oops. The last chapter was like the wrap up of Ultron and then like a post credits scene for the Blue Phantom: Dawn of Truth movie or part of the story or whatever we're calling it. This chapter is the start of Dawn of Truth and I definitely enjoyed writing it. Adie's back in school, high school now. Her birthday passed last month so now she's 14 years old, freshman in high school.
> 
> Well, there's not much else to say...

* * *

_"The man's crazy."_

* * *

_FIRST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL_

_SEPTEMBER 7, 2015_

The line was painfully long and Adelaide could swear it had stopped moving. She sighed, shifting her weight to her other leg and hooking her thumb under her backpack strap. She ran her hand through her hair which was still damp from her shower this morning.

"...and then he did a complete flip and landed right side up on his skateboard! How cool is that!" Ned gushed about some skateboarder he'd seen on tv. Adelaide had learned to know when to tune them out. The teenager glanced back at the curly-haired girl behind them, hoping to get some conversation out of her.

"Hey Michelle," Adelaide greeted. The girl glanced up from her book in response before looking down again. Adelaide sighed, craning her neck to look at the line. It moved one step. At this rate, it was going to be late afternoon by the time they got their schedules.

Suddenly, Ned and Peter's conversation about skateboarding stopped and Adelaide followed their gaze to see why. She rolled her eyes when she saw the girl they were both gaping at. Adelaide smacked their heads.

"Ow!"

"What was that for!"

"You're going to creep the poor girl out," Adelaide said. Michelle glanced up from her book.

"She's right." And then she went back to reading.

"But it's  _Liz_!" Ned whisper yelled. Adelaide raised an eyebrow

"And?"

"It's Liz  _Allan_!" Peter said, as if that made it clearer.

"Yeah, we could do this all day," she muttered and Peter grinned.

"She's—We've—I've—" Adelaide hit Peter on the head again.

"I've had a crush on her since...since as long as I can remember," Peter said, "And now she's here!" The two began staring at her again and Adelaide rolled her eyes. It was getting annoying. For some reason, she really wanted Peter to just stop looking at her, but she couldn't pinpoint why.

"And staring at a girl is the best way to her heart," Adelaide said sarcastically, ignoring the little feeling in her chest. She glanced at Liz again, a flicker of anger sparking in her chest. She was by the lockers, laughing with her friends. Adelaide didn't have to look too far to see why Peter liked her so much. The line moved one step again and Adelaide had to practically drag the two boys ahead by their backpacks.

"She has a new hairstyle…" Ned said dreamily. Peter nodded.

"And she got a new pair of shoes…" Adelaide wrinkled her nose. He was being  _way_  too observant, on the borderline of stalker.

"Names?" Adelaide turned around, realizing they were at the front desk already. The lady behind the table looked impatient and Adelaide smacked the two boys on their heads again to make them turn away.

"Adelaide Rivers," she said. The lady flipped through a folder and then pulled out a white paper with Adelaide's name in the corner. Adelaide thanked her and stepped aside so the other two could get their schedules. Her eyes skimmed over the paper while she was waiting.

First thing in the morning she had Algebra 2, which was absolutely fantastic considering how much she hated that subject. After that, she had gym, lunch, Chemistry, and English. Once Algebra was over, the rest of her day didn't seem so terrible. Adelaide noticed Peter and Ned stepping out of the line with their schedules in hand.

"Let me see," Adelaide said, snatching Peter's schedule.

"Excuse me," the desk lady said, making the three of them turn around, "Please don't crowd around the line. The bell is about to ring in 5 minutes, begin making your way to your class." The three nodded and then headed off, talking as they were walking down the hall.

Adelaide read over Peter's schedule, frowning.

"Algebra 2 Honors? Nerd," she teased and Peter rolled his eyes, snatching the paper back from her hand.

"Jealous much?" he muttered.

"I'd rather  _not_  be in your nerdy math class."

"Besides math, I think we all have the same schedule," Peter said, scanning his paper.

"I don't have Chemistry with you two," Ned said, looking up from his paper.

"Oh? What do you have then?" Ned grinned.

"Computer." Adelaide laughed, knowing how much he loved anything related to computers.

They approached the Algebra class (the non-honors one because not everyone could be a genius at math) and Adelaide and Ned said goodbye to Peter as he rushed upstairs to his class, having only 2 minutes left before the late bell rang. As Adelaide was heading inside, she noticed Liz walking down the hall in her black skirt and Adelaide glanced down at the black jeans she was wearing, tugging at her leather jacket with a frown.

Then, the bell rang and Adelaide hurried inside.

"Math is an art, a very sharp piece if I'm being specific. There is an...elegance to the idea and a beauty underneath the hard surface. A diamond in the rough, if you will," Mr. Hans said. He was seemingly lost in another world and Adelaide wanted to puke. How could anyone possibly like math so much? She tensed, worrying about how she was going to spend the rest of the year with this math-obsessed teacher. She couldn't stand it and he was in love with it.

"So has Liz ever actually...said anything to Pe- you guys?" Adelaide whispered to Ned who was sitting beside her. He sighed dreamily.

"No…" he sighed, "but there was this one time she glanced at us...Oh! There was another time when she smiled at us and we thought we were going to die. It was amazing."

Adelaide wrinkled her nose, wondering why they liked her so much. She looked pretty average to Adelaide. So she asked him just that.

"Why do you guys like her so much anyway?" she whispered.

"Liz...she's funny...smart...talented...nice...pretty…"

"Okay, yeah I get it," Adelaide grumbled, sorry she asked. Ned turned his attention back to Mr. Hans and, as usual, her mind drifted. She thought about how Peter and Ned were so infatuated with Liz. She was girly. Liz didn't fight crime or worry about how many bullets were left in her gun. Liz was the head of the decathlon team and wore skirts. She lived such a normal life and Adelaide was jealous of that. If hadn't been for...for whatever caused her to lose her memories or if that man hadn't killed her parents, she could be living a normal life. Maybe Adelaide would be head of the decathlon team and wear skirts everyday.

Adelaide sighed, looking out the window. Like she could ever be normal. There wasn't one thing in her life that was normal. The teenager wondered if there was ever going to be an end to all this. An end where she finally had all the answers. An end where she was truly happy.

"Tick, tock, Miss Rivers. The assignment isn't going to do itself," Mr. Hans said and Adelaide looked away from the window. Ned pointed at the assignment written on the board and Mr. Hans raised an eyebrow. Trying not to roll her eyes, Adelaide pulled out her notebook and began writing, hoping this class would be over soon.

* * *

Gym was hell.

Adelaide considered herself fairly fit. She ran at least 5 miles on the treadmill every morning and there was always a workout that followed. She was rarely out of breath so gym at school was never a problem for her. No, today, her problem was with the coach. Coach Graves. For some reason, every time she looked at him, she felt restless, as if something terrible was about to happen. Adelaide couldn't explain the feeling, but she hated it and she hated Coach Graves. Just the way he looked at her made her want to throw up in her mouth.

Last time she saw the man, she felt a sharp pain in her head and passed out. Everything had been a blur after that. The school had contacted Happy (who they knew as Harry) and he came to pick her up (wearing a disguise). Sometime during the car ride home, Adelaide woke up, but nothing was making any sense and her head felt like a ticking bomb. She rolled back into unconsciousness and then woke up the next day, in her bed at the Tower, sick with a high fever. It had taken 5 days for her fever to go away.

"Rivers, catch," Flash said, hurling a basketball at her. He had noticed that she wasn't paying attention and decided to throw the ball hard enough to embarrass her when she didn't catch it. Instead, Adelaide caught it without looking and tossed it back to him twice as hard. The ball hit his chest and Flash stumbled back a couple of steps before catching it.

"A little harder and I might have been lucky enough to break a rib," Adelaide said before turning away. Flash scowled, gripping the basketball. He had had enough with this girl. Who was she to embarrass him?

"I heard Mr. Hans is super strict," Peter said, dribbling his own basketball. He tossed it to Adelaide and she caught it. She raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Pete, he gave us homework," she threw the ball to Ned, "On the first day."

Peter laughed, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Come on, he can't be that bad," Peter said, catching the ball.

"The man's crazy," Ned said, bending over to tie his shoelaces.

"Crazy in love with math," Adelaide said and Ned nodded, looking up. Suddenly, Coach Graves blew his whistle and everyone gathered around him, except Michelle who was sitting on the bleachers with a book in hand. Graves blew his whistle in her direction and she glanced up from her book.

"Do you need a special invitation?" he asked snarkily and Adelaide had the sudden urge to punch out his teeth. Michelle audibly groaned and then stuffed her book in her backpack and stomped down the bleachers. Graves watched her for a second before shaking his head.

"Alright, today we're gonna be practicing some martial arts moves," he said, rubbing his hands together, "Any questions?" Adelaide stared at the ground, refusing to look up. Graves cleared his throat.

"Eyes up here please," he mumbled and Adelaide glared at him. What was his deal? Did he have a problem with specifically her or was he like this with everyone? He smiled, satisfied.

"Let's get going, then."

Soon, they had the mats laid out and then Graves began pairing up people. Adelaide stood with her arms crossed, a sour expression on her face. She just wanted for this class to be over.

"...Leeds, you're with Book Lover over here. Parker, go with Lee," Graves said, walking down the line. He approached Adelaide with the permanent smirk that he always carried. It irritated her to the ends of the Earth.

"Adelaide, with Flash," he said and then walked past her. She resisted the urge to tackle him to the ground as Flash made his way over to her. He smirked, opening his mouth.

"Don't," she muttered and he rolled his eyes.

"Everyone, line up with your partners!" Graves said and Adelaide walked over to the closest mat with Flash trailing behind. She noticed that Peter was at the mat to her left and Ned was to her right with Michelle. Coach Graves stood in front of everyone with a mat of his own as his eyes scanned the class. He pointed to Lee, Peter's partner and gestured for him to come over. Lee gulped, nervously glancing at Peter before slowly making his way to Coach Graves. He stood on the mat, his hands shaking at his sides. Adelaide didn't blame him. Graves was easily scary-looking with his eyepatch and constant know-it-all smirk.

"Watch," he said to the class before facing Lee. In slow motion, Coach Graves grabbed Lee's arm, twisted it behind his back and then pinned the teenager to the ground. Adelaide winced. It didn't look like Graves was really hurting Lee, but Adelaide was suddenly reminded of the first time she met Tony. She had his arm pinned behind his back like he was some doll. She shook her head. That was different. She was different. Adelaide had promised herself to stop thinking about her past. She had to focus on the present.

Graves got off of Lee and the teenager stood up slowly, brushing his shorts off. He walked back to his mat and Peter patted his shoulder understandingly.

"Any questions?" Coach Graves asked.

Flash raised his hand. "Um, Coach?"

"No questions? Great, let's get going." Flash dropped his hand, glancing at Adelaide. She rolled her eyes and positioned herself on the mat.

"Tallest goes first," Graves said and then blew his whistle. Adelaide had Flash's arm twisted behind him before he had even caught up with the action. She smirked, pinning him down and pulling his arm a little more than necessary. Flash grunted.

"Alright, now get off," he grumbled. She rolled her eyes and stepped off. He stood up, stumbling away from her as he glared. Coach Graves blew his whistle again, turning his attention to him again.

"Now switch," he said, making a flipping gesture with his fingers. Adelaide caught Flash's eye. He had a knowing smirk on his face. Coach Graves blew his whistle again and Adelaide got into position. This time, Flash grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back rather clumsily. She rolled her eyes as he pinned her to the ground. Flash grinned and leaned down to her ear.

"What you're not going to faint again this time?" he asked. Adelaide's jaw tightened. "I always knew you were faint-hearted, weak, pathetic –"

Adelaide used her elbow and shoved it into his chest making him roll over. She stood up, pulling him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't pick a fight with me," she hissed and then she shoved his chest, causing him to stumble backwards. Adelaide watched him with disgust, turning around. He had no idea what she'd been through. Who the hell was he to call her weak and pathetic? Suddenly, her arm was twisted behind her. Adelaide shook her head before knocking her head back, making him release his grip on her arm. He grinned at her.

"Pathetic."

She pulled her fist back and punched his nose. His hands flew up covering his nose, but the blood still flowed down his chin. Adelaide tilted her head to the side.

"Loser," she said.

Adelaide turned around, noticing that everyone had been watching the little fight of theirs. Including Coach Graves. Adelaide stared back at Coach Graves as he smirked at her. Adelaide squinted. Was he...smiling?

"Coach, I think she broke my nose," Flash said, his voice muffled by the hand he had covered over it. Graves didn't look away from Adelaide, still grinning brightly.

"Grow a pair, Eugene."

* * *

An hour later, Adelaide was still confused why Graves hadn't punished her. She broke Flash's nose, that was definitely punishable. Although, another coach, Coach Harris had noticed the whole thing and gave Adelaide a detention, Adelaide still couldn't understand why Coach Graves looked so... _happy_  about it. What was it with that guy? He creeped her out.

"Everyone, find a partner," Mr. Danson, the Chemistry teacher, said. Adelaide scooted her stool closer to Peter's, her mind still elsewhere.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, noticing the frown on his friend's face.

"It's just the detention," she lied, waving her hand. Peter chuckled.

"No it's not. You couldn't care less about detention. What's really wrong?" he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. She glanced at his hand and then back at him. He pulled it away, resting it in his lap. For some reason, she was suddenly reminded that Peter liked Liz. She shook her head. What did that have to do with anything right now?

"Open your textbooks to page 367 and conduct the experiment as it is written. Be careful of your measurements," Mr. Danson instructed. Peter flipped his textbook to the page, eyes skimming over the experiment. He grabbed a beaker and Adelaide absentmindedly grabbed the dishwashing soap.

"Come on, you can tell me," he said. Adelaide sighed.

"Didn't you find it weird how Coach Graves didn't get angry when I broke Flash's nose?" she asked, fiddling with the dishwashing soap in her hand. She picked at the loose paper on the side.

"Well, yeah, it was weird, but I think he was just trying to be funny," Peter said, pouring some colored chemical mixture into the beaker. He grinned, looking at her through his goggles. "Plus, Flash's face was hilarious."

"I don't know…" she said, opening the dishwashing soap bottle. Peter grabbed a pencil, writing something down in his notebook.

"Don't worry about it, Ada. If it wasn't for Harris, you would've gotten away with it," Peter said, glancing at the beaker. Adelaide sighed, resting her chin on her arm. He was right. Maybe Graves was just trying to be funny. Not many people liked him in the first place and maybe he was just trying to change that by being funny. People did that, right? Adelaide sighed again, pouring the dishwashing soap into the beaker absentmindedly.

"You're right," she mumbled. Peter grinned at her.

"See? I told you–Ada no!" She followed his wide-eyed gaze to the beaker which was now overflowing with foam and soaking all of their papers and making a mess on the table. Adelaide glanced at Mr. Danson who looked very angry. She winced, biting her tongue.

Adelaide caught Peter's eye who was holding back a laugh. She pulled her lips in, trying to do the same.

* * *

" _What!_ " Adelaide and Tony winced, trying to shield their ears from Pepper's high-pitched voice.

"Adelaide, it was the first day of high school. How in the world did you get detention?" She shrugged, trying to hide smile by looking down.

"I broke a guy's nose," she mumbled.

"You  _what_?!" Tony laughed, holding his hand up for Adelaide to high-five. She clapped his hand, grinning before she caught the expression on Pepper's face. Adelaide and Tony both dropped their smile, clearing their throats.

"Adelaide, why did you break his nose?" Pepper asked, sighing. Adelaide shrugged.

"He was asking for it," she said.

"That is not acceptable. I'm talking to —"

"Honey, she said he was asking for it. I'm sure he was, right Adie?" Adelaide nodded fast, looking at Pepper. Pepper looked between the two, sighing for the third time.

"That's it," she said, "I can't win with you two." She began walking away, mumbling about how they always team up on her. Tony winked at her, patting her shoulder.

"Good job," he said and then rushed off to Pepper, trying to calm her down. Adelaide laughed to herself, walking over to the fridge to grab a coke. As she was popping it open, her mind drifted to Graves' reaction. She knew Peter believed he was just trying to be funny, but Adelaide couldn't help but think there was something more to it.

Even though he'd given her detention, Adelaide felt like Coach Harris' reaction was much more justified than Coach Graves. When a student broke another student's nose, the teacher gave that student detention. Not tell the other guy to 'grow a pair'. Maybe Peter was right and Adelaide was really just being paranoid. She hoped he was right. Adelaide had had enough of being confused.

"Adie, I need backup in here," Tony shouted from the next room. She could hear Pepper shouting. Adelaide shook her head, shaking away the thoughts. She had to stop thinking about it.

"Coming!" she said. She swallowed a big sip of coke, finishing it off and then she tossed it in the bin, rushing out of the kitchen.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter is super short and nothing really happens but it's still important somehow...I forgot where I was going with this. 
> 
> With that aside, about this chapter.The next chapter is going to be BOMB because something TOTALLY UNEXPECTED happens and I been waiting for this for so longgggggg. I'm so excited. This 'Big Thing' is really gonna be the kickstart of Dawn of Truth, but it might not happen in the next chapter, or it might. I have no idea anymore. This chapter in particular is important because it mainly sets up the stage for the next Big Thing and there's a little bit of Peter and Adie in here which I love because they're literally perfect for each other when will they realize. I can promise it's not anytime soon lol.

* * *

_"What do you_

_call a_ _sleeping_

_dinosaur?"_

* * *

Adelaide had noticed a pattern in her life. She never went too long without a problem occurring. There was always something.

"Don't forget," Mr. Hans said, "Complete the homework packet by tomorrow or I will take ten points off. I hope that for some of you, that lesson was learned last week." He looked at Adelaide while announcing the last part and the teenager could feel her face heating up. So she had forgotten to do the Algebra homework last week. What was the big deal?

"He hates me," she told Ned who shook his head.

"You know," Michelle said without looking up from her book, "that might be the first right thing you've ever said." Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"He's just very...specific," Ned explained, putting his books into his backpack, "He doesn't hate you." Adelaide huffed, slinging her backpack around her shoulders. She pulled her hair out from under the straps, straightening her jacket.

"Easy for you to say. He loves you," she said.

"He doesn't... _love_  me," Ned argued as they headed towards the door, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Then tell me why he gave you credit for the bonus question even though you got it wrong," she said. The bell rang and the two teenagers merged into the crowd, walking out of the classroom.

"He gave me credit for the attempt," Ned said, hooking his thumbs under his backpack straps.

"Ned, I did three bonus questions and missed all of them," she said. He shrugged.

"Well, the answer was 3 and you got  _x_." She glared at him.

"Whose side are you on?" she asked.

"Oh look, there's Peter!" Ned exclaimed, happy for a distraction. Adelaide rolled her eyes, following her friend through the crowd.

"Hey," Peter greeted and the three began walking to their next class together, "What's wrong?" Adelaide frowned. Was she really that easy to read?

"Adelaide thinks Mr. Hans hates her," Ned said.

"No, I  _know_  he hates me."

"I'm sure any math teacher in the building feels the same way," Peter teased and she smacked his arm.

"I'm starting to feel the same way about you," she grumbled and Peter laughed.

"Relax," he said, "I'm just kidding." Ned watched the two of them, amused. They never failed to make each other laugh. He couldn't help but noticed how they somehow always managed to lift each other's moods. As they approached the gym doors, Adelaide tensed. Coach Graves hadn't acted weird since the Flash incident, but, then again, Adelaide hadn't broken any more noses since then. Although, she had to refrain herself many times from breaking Flash's nose again. He still hadn't forgiven her for the first time.

After changing into her gym clothes, Adelaide joined the two boys by the bleachers. They were in deep discussion about Star Wars or something and Adelaide tuned them out, her eyes scanning the gym. She spotted Coach Graves talking to another coach. Graves looked bored and then he caught Adelaide's eye. She didn't look away and then he smiled like he knew something she didn't. God, she  _hated_  that smile. She frowned and looked away, trying to focus on the boys' conversation. When she looked back at him again, he was gone.

By the time gym was over, Adelaide was ready for lunch. She hadn't spotted Coach Graves after the first time and she definitely wasn't complaining. She couldn't stand even being in the same room as him.

As the three of them headed over to their table with their lunch trays, Adelaide noticed the two boys' eyes were on the tv in the corner. She rolled her eyes when she saw Tony's face on it, wondering what he had done this time to make headlines. Then again, the press just needed an excuse to put Tony Stark on headlines.

" _... Stark industries donates a jaw-dropping sum of money to the Engineering Research Institution in uptown New York."_

That was probably Pepper's doing, always trying to put the company in good light, the limelight. That, and the fact that it was her job as CEO to do so. The three of them sat down, eyes still on the tv. Peter cursed, making Adelaide look away. He had dropped his fork.

"I'll go get another one," he mumbled, walking away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ned began shaking her arm. She looked at him in confusion.

"What is it?" she asked, pulling her arm away. He had a big grin on his face.

"You remember the surprise?" he asked. Adelaide cocked her head to the side.

"Um...Am I missing something here?" Ned rolled his eyes, the smile never leaving his face. Adelaide had no idea what he was talking about.

"You know! The surprise! Meeting Mr. Stark!" Adelaide's eyes widened, suddenly remembering her promise to Ned. She had promised that Tony would meet him and Peter, but she was hoping he'd forgotten about it by now. She laughed nervously.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Well when are we meeting him? I mean, it's been months since you said," Ned said. Adelaide bit her lip, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She couldn't lie to him again. She had felt terrible about it the first time and she wasn't too fond of doing it again. Especially not when he looked so hopeful.

"Um, soon." His smile fell.

"Soon?"

"You know what, I'll talk to my Uncle Ton-Timothy today," she said, knowing she'd regret it. Ned grinned again and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it when he saw Peter walking back. Ned gave her a thumbs up and the sinking feeling grew in her stomach.

See? She never went long without a problem.

* * *

The remainder of the day was spent worrying about the promise she'd made to Ned. What if they found out the truth? What if they found out that Timothy Lark didn't exist? How would she tell them everything? She trusted them, but there was no way she was ready to tell them about everything. Where would she even begin?

What if they found out she lived at the Tower? How was she ever going to explain that? What if she lost the only two friends she had because she wasn't ready to tell them the truth? She bit her lip, her heart about to beat itself right out of her chest. There had to be a way out of this. But then again...she didn't want to lie to Ned. He looked so hopeful. Besides, what more excuses could she make?

"You're doing it again," Peter said from beside her, measuring something. She sighed, twisted her chair around to face him. The Chemistry class had huge windows and there was never a shortage of light in the room. Outside, the wind was blowing hard, making the trees sway back and forth. She could watch them all day. Instead she picked up her pencil with another sigh and began tackling the equations.

"0.4," he noted and she scribbled the number down. Adelaide looked up, noticing that Peter was grinning at her.

"What?"

"Do you have a class with me, because we got Chemistry." Adelaide laughed lightly, shaking her head.

"Pete...that was so terrible," she said.

"What do you call a factory that sells good products?" She rolled her eyes, biting back another smile.

"Do I want to know?" He grinned.

"A  _satisfactory_ ," he said.

"Seriously, stop," Adelaide said, laughing.

"What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?" he asked and she shrugged. "A dino- _snore_."

Adelaide laughed again, feeling her cheeks starting to hurt, but she didn't mind at all.

"What did one snowman say to the other snowman?" She looked at him, a bright smile on her face.

"What?"

"It smells like  _carrots_ ," he said and they both laughed, looking at each other. Peter stopped laughing, settling for a smile. He pushed his glasses up.

"Did that help?" he asked.

"What?" she asked.

"I made you laugh, do you feel better?" For some reason, the smile wouldn't leave her face.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "thanks Pete."

As he went back to writing, Adelaide couldn't help but steal a glance at him every few minutes. There was something in the back of her mind that she couldn't grasp, but she shook her head, focusing on her assignment. She'd think about it later.

* * *

Tony was in his lab, as usual. They had to get it fixed after the whole Ultron and Vision destroying it thing. She pushed open the glass door, letting herself inside. As usual, the billionaire was too focused on his work to even notice. Adelaide looked around to room, noticing there were suit parts everywhere. She shook her head. This mess of wires never made any sense to her — she left that up to Tony.

She made her way over to his desk where he was hunched over a robotic arm.

"Hey, dummy, hold this here," Tony said without looking up. For a moment, Adelaide thought he was talking to her before she saw the robotic arm twist around.

"You know what? You're useless. I'll do it myself," he mumbled and the arm turned away, almost looking sad. Tony glanced at it, frowning.

"Don't even think about," Tony said and the arm dropped, twisting around. Adelaide cleared her throat, making Tony stop glaring at his robot arm.

"Did Pepper send you here? Because I didn't break her favorite vase, it was him," Tony said, pointing to the robot arm. Adelaide rolled her eyes, propping herself up onto the table.

"No, Pepper didn't send me. I need a favor," Adelaide said, pulling her lips in. Tony glanced at her before turning back to his work.

"Big? Small?"

"Medium."

"Shoot."

"Remember how I told you my friends are big fans of yours?" Tony hummed.

"Well I kinda...um…promised them that you'd meet them." He shrugged.

"Sure. When?" Adelaide felt her jaw dropping.

" _Sure?_  Tony, there are a million reasons why this is a bad idea!"

"And yet you promised them?" he asked sarcastically, making Adelaide groan.

"I had to," she said, holding her head in her hands.

"So let's meet them," Tony said.

"But what if they find out that I live here!" He raised an eyebrow.

"And the Stark Tower is a terrible place to live because…?"

"That's not what I mean," Adelaide said, "It's just...what if they find out? How am I going to explain everything to them? I'm not ready to tell them everything yet."

"Should've thought of that before promising them," Tony said and she threw a screwdriver at him which the robot caught swiftly. Tony looked surprised.

"Hey, you're good for something," he mocked and the arm seemed confused. Adelaide rolled her eyes. Tony and his metal.

"You have to help me," she groaned.

"I don't know what you want me to do," Tony said.

"I want you to meet them," she said, holding her breath. He glanced at her.

"But?"

"But you can't let them know I live here or tell them about the Blue Phantom or anything that will blow my cover, okay?"

"Well, you didn't leave much else to talk about," he joked. Adelaide glared at him.

"I'm serious, Tony."

"So am I," he said, hunched over something. Adelaide shook her head, jumping off the table. As she was about to reach for the door handle, she suddenly remembered something important. She looked over her shoulder.

"Oh, and Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"You're good friends with my Uncle Timothy Lark," she said and Tony frowned.

"I don't think I'd be friends with a guy named Timothy Lark. Not a very loyal guy. Does he like scotch?" Adelaide rolled her eyes with a smile as she pushed open the glass door and stepped out of the lab. She could just hope that they wouldn't find out the truth.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter, I kind of felt like it was all over the place but maybe that was just me. And it was probably because like 75% of the chapter has been cut and pasted. I've moved around entire scenes and dialogues and my 'bloopers' or 'deleted scenes' list is starting to grow freakishly long. I'm thinking about posting those at the end of this story, once it's all wrapped up. Hopefully, that's still a long ways down the road. I drifted off again. Back to this chapter. So, like I said, it's kind of all over the place but (I don't want to spoil anything) this is chapter where the Big Thing happens and now that it happened, I don't know what to do after this chapter, as usual. I always figure it out somehow so I guess it'll be the same frustration and hair pulling until I figure it out this time. I will say though, that after this chapter, nothing is ever the same again...

* * *

_"Happy was_ _not_ _happy."_

* * *

Happy was not happy.

"So you broke this guy's nose?" Adelaide sighed, frustrated as she leaned her head back against the car seat. She looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"He was making fun of me, alright? And that was weeks ago, I already pain my detention for it," she grumbled.

"You got detention and didn't tell me!"

"Eyes on the road, Happs!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" he shouted and Adelaide rolled her eyes. Who knew he'd get so mad over something so small and irrelevant? The teenager realized that they had arrived at the school already.

"Hey I promise if I break another guy's nose, you'll be the first to know, okay?" Someone honked at them to move out of the way and Happy honked back angrily.

"I don't want you breaking any more noses," he said and Adelaide nodded solemnly. "But if you do...don't." Adelaide held back a laugh. Typical.

"Bye, Happs," she said, sliding out or the car.

"Don't get in trouble, kid," he said and Adelaide grinned, watching him drive away. She stood there a moment longer before turning on her heel and walking towards the school.

Suddenly, she heard someone shouting her name, making her turn around. Ned was jogging towards her, holding his backpack straps. He was out of breath by the time he got to her and then the two of them began walking together towards the school.

"So did your uncle talk to Mr. Stark yesterday?" he asked. Adelaide swallowed, remembering her conversation with Tony in his lab. He had agreed to meet them and keep her secret, but Adelaide was still very tense about the whole situation and she couldn't stop thinking negatively.

"He did," Adelaide said and Ned's face brightened up.

"What did Mr. Stark say?!" he asked. Adelaide glanced at her friend. He was practically bouncing with excitement and she sighed quietly.

"Well," she began, wondering how she was going to put it into words, "Tony said he would meet you guys." Ned whooped, jumping up and throwing his fist into the air. He caught the attention of several people around them and Adelaide shushed him.

"You can't tell everyone!" she exclaimed and Ned grinned sheepishly. They were inside the building now and they only had a couple minutes before the bell rang and they would be late to class. She looked around nervously, hoping no one could hear their conversation.

"When do we get to meet him?" he asked, trying to control his excitement. Adelaide pulled her lips in, tucking her hair behind her ears. She tugged at the hem of her sweater nervously. She glanced at Ned who looked ready to burst from excitement and then she sighed.

"He said he'd meet you tomorrow," she mumbled and Ned whooped again.

"Tomorrow! We're gonna meet Mr. Stark tomorrow!" he shouted and Adelaide had to shush him again.

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" she asked, searching his face, "Not even Peter. At least, not until tomorrow." Adelaide sighed again, wondering how she would get herself out of this one. Why did stuff like this always happen to her?

"Cross my heart, I won't tell a soul," Ned said giddily, "Not even Peter." Adelaide nodded, taking a deep breath. She hoped nothing would go wrong tomorrow.

Then, the bell rang and the two teenagers rushed to class.

* * *

_Boo!_

_Come to my Halloween party tonight at 7 pm, the biggest party of the year and have a blast. Costumes required for entry._ _Be there, or be scared._

—  _Flash Thompson_

Adelaide rolled her eyes at the flyer, pushing her way out of the crowd that was surrounding it. Everyone was gossiping about how Flash always threw the 'legendary' parties and that this was going to be 'the biggest party of the year'. Adelaide had to hold back a laugh when she heard someone say that the  _New York Times_  reporter was going to be there. She couldn't understand how people believed that stuff. Someone said it, and now it's suddenly true.

Finally, she stepped out of the crowd. Adelaide shook her head, taking a deep breath. All that perfume and cologne was starting to give her a headache. As she began to make her way to the cafeteria for lunch, she saw Peter and Ned coming towards her from the corner of her eye.

"I think I'm getting better at martial arts," Adelaide heard Peter telling Ned as they got closer. The three had just finished gym and Adelaide finished changing earlier so she had come outside to wait for them. She couldn't stand being in the same room as Coach Graves for a second longer than she had to. He gave her the chills. The three walked through the cafeteria doors together.

"Pete, you could literally not be worse at martial arts," Adelaide said, shaking her head.

"I'm not  _that_  bad," he argued and Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"You fell over while trying to swing a kick at Lee," she said and he scoffed.

"I didn't fall, I...tripped."

"Whatever makes you feel better about yourself," she muttered, pushing open the cafeteria doors.

"How are you so good, then?" he asked and Adelaide felt her face heat up. She swallowed, clearing her throat.

"I'm a fast learner," she muttered, "It's cold in here, isn't it?"

Peter didn't miss how his friend was quick to change the subject and how clear her lie was. He had known Ada for a while now and if there was one thing that he noticed about her, it was that she was a pro at martial arts way before they even started lessons. Peter knew Ada wouldn't tell him the truth if he asked, so he shook it off, thinking it was probably nothing. After getting their lunches, the three began walking towards their usual table.

"Did you hear about the party?" Peter asked, pushing his glasses up with one hand while carrying the tray in the other.

"Yeah," Adelaide said, "it sounds terrible."

"Terrible?!" Ned shouted, "Adelaide, there's going to be seniors there and I even heard Flash invited a  _New York Times_  reporter." Adelaide laughed.

"You believe that?" Ned shrugged.

"I mean, it sounds really fun. Too bad Flash would never invite us," Peter said.

"Good. It's probably a lame party anyway," Adelaide said, taking her seat at their lunch table. Adelaide glanced at Michelle reading a book in the corner. Did she get a new book every day?

"Hey Michelle," Adelaide greeted. The curly-haired girl looked up from her book, blinking at Adelaide before returning her attention to her book. Adelaide rolled her eyes. One of these days, she was going to get a 'hey' out her.

"You're still coming over for the Chemistry project tomorrow, right?" Peter asked, pushing his glasses up.

"What project?" Ned asked.

"It's just this thing Mr. Danson assigned to us yesterday. We have to make this model," Adelaide explained, before turning to Peter, "What time?" He shrugged.

"Whenever. Ben and May aren't gonna be home this weekend."

"I'll talk to my aunt and ask," Adelaide said, sipping her water, "By the way –"

"Hey losers, hey Adelaide," Flash said, approaching their table and Adelaide audibly groaned.

"What do you want, Flash?" she said and he grinned annoyingly. It was as if he fed off her anger or he enjoyed having his nose broken by a girl who was smaller than him in size.

"I want you to come to my party," he said, handing her a card. She didn't even look at it, handing it back to him.

"And why would I want to come to your party?" He grinned.

"I could give you a few reasons," he said and Adelaide felt herself gagging. She glared at him.

"I'm not coming," she mumbled, turning away. Flash shrugged.

"I'm inviting everyone. Liz Allan said she'll be there with her friends and," he gloated, pausing, "I'm adding a special plus two, just for you."

Adelaide caught Peter's and Ned's wide eyes across the table and she sighed.

"I'm still not-ow! I'll...think about it," she grumbled, snatching the invitation he was still holding out.

"See you there," Flash said, winking at her and then walking away. Adelaide glared at Peter.

"What the hell was that for?" she said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not turning down an invite to a party with Liz Allan," Peter said and Adelaide rolled her eyes. He needed to get over the girl already. Adelaide bet Liz didn't even know Peter Parker existed.

"Well you two can go, I'm not going," she said, sipping her water.

"What! You have to come! Flash won't let us in without you! And, plus, it's the biggest party of the year," Peter said and Ned bobbed his head in agreement. Adelaide was getting tired of hearing that same phrase over and over again.

"Forget it. I'm not going."

"Please?" Peter and Ned said together and Adelaide rolled her eyes. She sighed.

"Fine. But I'm only going for a half hour. No more," she said, "And I am  _not_  wearing a costume."

* * *

"A Halloween party?" Pepper asked, reading over the card. Adelaide nodded, switching the tv channel again. How come there was nothing good on the tv when she was watching?

"And you agreed to go?" Pepper asked, not believing the teenager was actually willing to go out and socialize. The woman sat down on the couch beside her, smiling.

"I'm only going because Peter forced me to go," Adelaide grumbled, throwing her head back on the couch.

"Peter, huh?" Adelaide threw a pillow at the woman, but she only laughed, catching it easily.

"Fine, I'll stop," Pepper said, laughing, "What's your costume?"

"I'm not dressing up. It's just stupid Flash anyway," the teenager grumbled.

"Adelaide Rivers," Pepper said suddenly, standing up, "There is no way I am letting you go to that Halloween party without a costume. Come on, let's go shopping."

And that was how Adelaide ended up walking down the streets of New York with a woman named 'Virginia' dressed in a trench coat with a thick scarf and sunglasses even though it was only 70 degrees out.

"You know, it very suspicious to wear sunglasses when it's not sunny,  _Virginia_ ," Adelaide told her and Pepper shook her head.

"Do you want people to find out or not?" she snapped and Adelaide rolled her eyes. They approached a half-decent costume store and Adelaide begrudgingly dragged herself inside. When Flash had invited her, she hadn't even planned on going, but here she was, picking out a costume for the party. Flash was never going to let her hear the end of it and who was she doing all this for? The two dorks who were in love with a girl that barely knew their names.

Adelaide sighed, eyes scanning the racks although she was hardly paying attention. Any mention of Liz and Adelaide always felt annoyed, like something in the back of her mind had pegged Liz as a terrible person. Adelaide scoffed to herself, fingers running over some dresses. She didn't even know Liz, so it was pretty stupid to pretend like she did. But if Pete liked her, then she must be at least half-decent, right?

"How's this one?" Pepper asked, holding up Greek Goddess costume. Adelaide wrinkled her nose, frowning.

"Can I send Flash to the underworld if I wear that?" Pepper rolled her eyes at the teenager's comment, hanging the costume back on the shelf.

"How about a puppy onesie?"

"So people can call me a bitch?"

"Language!" Pepper shouted and Adelaide chuckled. She had thought it was a pretty funny joke.

"все в порядке! Okay!" Adelaide said, still laughing.

"I'm going over here, holler if you find anything," Pepper said with a sigh and Adelaide barely heard her, flicking through a rack of costumes.

"Глупый Flash и его глупая вечеринка," she mumbled to herself. This place was making her claustrophobic and it was hot and stuffy in here. Adelaide sighed, taking a step back from all the costumes. They were all too girly or frilly. What was she even doing here? She was Adelaide Rivers, the Blue Phantom. She was supposed to be out there kicking ass or training to kick ass, not trying on Halloween costumes.

"Can I help you?" Adelaide turned around, noticing the petite platinum blonde standing behind her. Adelaide glanced back at the costumes, sighing.

"Is there anything you're looking for in specific?" she asked. Adelaide hesitated.

"Do you have anything in...black?" the teenager asked and the platinum blonde smiled, gesturing for Adelaide to follow. Adelaide glanced back again before following after her. She led the teenager to a color coded section at the back of the store, to the corner with all the black costumes. Adelaide scanned the rack. Well, it was a start.

"Let me know if you need any help," the platinum blonde said before leaving Adelaide with the costumes. Adelaide looked through them, almost bored. There was nothing here either. This whole thing was pointless and a waste of time. With a shake of her head, Adelaide turned around, walking away. She glanced at the red section, noticing the single black costume hanging between the reds. If it hadn't been for the obvious leather, Adelaide wouldn't have gone for it.

She picked it off the shelf, examining it.

It was a leather catsuit, like Catwoman's. There was a belt at the waist to hold a gun and secret pockets for knives everywhere. Adelaide held the suit against herself, looking in the mirror. She put the cat ears on, smirking. Catwoman wasn't that bad. In fact, she kicked ass.

"Неплохо," she noted to herself.

"Hey, nice choice," Pepper said, making the teenager turn around.

"Yeah?" Adelaide said, pulling off the cat ears. She studied the suit in her hands, wondering if Tony could model her Blue Phantom suit after this one. Maybe they could a blue stripe along the side…

* * *

"So Halloween party, huh?" Happy asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror. Adelaide sighed, looking out the window. The sun was shining, but was cool outside.

"It's the last place I want to be," she said, picking at her costume. Liz was probably dressed as a fairy or something that wasn't leather. Maybe Adelaide should have gone as a dirt bike racer. Tony wouldn't say no if she asked for a dirt bike. Then again, Pepper would. She frowned, sighing. Catwoman was badass enough.

"You're a teenager, kid. Teenagers mingle, socialize, act like they know everything," Happy said.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not anything like a normal teenager."

"You're moody, bossy, and stubborn. Sounds like a teenager to me."

"But Tony is all of those things, too," she replied and Happy couldn't find response to that so they just drove silently until they got to Flash's house. It was a big house with a large front yard and a pool peeking out from the back. Yet, somehow, it managed to look just as snobby as Flash.

Adelaide opened the door with a sigh, stepping outside. She could already hear the music and chatter from here and the party seemed to be in full swing. She had remembered people saying it was going to be 'the biggest party of the year'. Yeah, right. The teenager still believed that seeing Thor beat Steve in an arm wrestle or watch Tony fail to pick up Thor's hammer made a better party any day. She smiled to herself at the memory. It was their last peaceful moment before Ultron had come in and stomped on everyone's happiness.

Adelaide thanked Happy and began walking the up the path to the door when someone suddenly shouted her name, making her turn around. She squinted, trying to make out who the two figures running towards her were. Adelaide couldn't recognize them because of the costumes. When they got closer, she realized it was Peter and Ned who was dressed as a magician?

"What are you supposed to be?" she asked Ned who rolled his eyes.

"I'm Luke Skywalker," he said and Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"Star Wars!" he shouted like it was common knowledge. It's not like they cared she couldn't remember 13 years of her life, forget any movies she might have seen in that time. Then again, they had no idea she'd lost her memories...

"Oh...that," she mumbled. For some reason, she never found it as interesting as they did no matter how many times Peter made her watch it.

" _No way!_  Are you Catwoman?!" Peter asked, pointing to her costume. Adelaide nodded, glad someone didn't mistake her costume for just a cat. She eyed his costume, studying the mask in particular.

"Are you...Batman?" she asked and he nodded excitedly.

"What are the chances?!" he shouted and Adelaide laughed, giving him a high five.

"Come on," she said, glancing back at the door, "let's go so we can get out of here early." As she turned around, she heard Peter and Ned whispering about what Liz's costume could be and Adelaide found herself pushing the doorbell a little too hard. The door opened, revealing a pirate standing behind it.

"Ahoy scallywags! Wha're ye doin' here?" Suddenly, the pirate was pushed aside by Flash who was dressed as...well, the Flash.

"Collin, I told you to  _not_  open the door," Flash grumbled.

"Hey Barry, looks like we came to the wrong party," Adelaide joked.

"Har, har," Flash said, rolling his eyes, "Come in." He opened the door wider and Adelaide missed how he stuck his tongue out at Peter and Ned as they followed in after her. Inside, the music was so loud Adelaide had to practically shout for Peter and Ned to hear her.

"What are you supposed to be?" Flash shouted.

"Catwoman."

"And Parker's Batman. How cute," Flash mocked and Adelaide rolled her eyes. She knew coming here would be a terrible idea. Flash pushed past her, making his way through the crowd.

"Do you see Liz?" Peter shouted to Ned. He shook his head and Peter's shoulders slumped.

"I'm gonna go get a drink!" Adelaide shouted, but the two hardly heard her and she rolled her eyes, making her way through the crowd. When she got to the drink table, it was safe to say she was a little disappointed. There was only fruit punch and it wasn't even spiked. Adelaide frowned, pouring herself a cup. She wondered if she had become an alcoholic but then shook her head, sipping her punch. She cringed at the sour taste of it.

Licking her lips, Adelaide turned around, looking for Peter and Ned. She couldn't find Ned, but she noticed Peter hovering around Liz who was dressed as an angel. Adelaide couldn't help but roll her eyes. How did he expect to ask her out if he couldn't even muster the courage to talk to her? Suddenly, someone touched Adelaide's leg, making her jump up, turning around. Adelaide lifted the tablecloth, bending over to look under the table. To her surprise, there was a librarian sitting there.

"Hey Michelle," Adelaide said, crawling inside. As usual, Michelle didn't return the greeting. Adelaide sighed, taking another sip from her too-sour drink.

"What're you doing here?" she asked. The girl shrugged.

"Flash doesn't now I'm here."

"So...you weren't invited?"

"No."

"And you snuck in?"

"Yes."

"Cool."

"So what's with you and Liz?" Michelle asked, making Adelaide suddenly jump.

"What?" she asked. Even in the dark, Adelaide could tell that the girl was rolling her eyes.

"You hate her."

"I don't hate her! She's just…"

"Everything you're not? A girl you could never be? Your best friend's crush? I could go on…" Adelaide scowled.

"No, thank you," she muttered through gritted teeth. She chugged her drink, cringing at the sour taste with each swallow. Did she hate Liz? Adelaide didn't even know her! Michelle was just being crazy; Liz was probably a great person and Adelaide was just a little annoyed by her, that's all. She definitely didn't hate her.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside and Adelaide glanced at Michelle before crawling out from under the table. The curly-haired girl just lifted the tablecloth up, peeking out. There was a crowd that Adelaide couldn't see past so she pushed her way through.

The chanting got louder.

" _Penis! Parker!_ "

Adelaide stumbled into the center where Flash had Peter pinned down. Peter had bruises everywhere and the look on his face told her he was in a lot of pain. Adelaide glanced behind herself, following Peter's gaze. She was she to eye with Liz who looked worried. Adelaide turned around, glaring at Flash. She scowled, instinctively marching over to Flash and pushing him off her friend. The chanting stopped instantly.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" she shouted and Flash laughed.

"Are you gonna break my nose again?" he asked with a grin. She glared at him.

"I'm thinking maybe a spine this time," she bluffed.

"It's my house," he said, almost asking her to come at him. She glanced back at Peter who had managed to stand up. He shook his head angrily and Adelaide let out a breath. She glared at Flash before storming out, taking Peter with her.

Once they were outside, Adelaide turned around, huffing. Somehow, Ned had found his way through the crowd and was standing next to Peter, holding him up.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Peter grunted, giving her a look. Adelaide winced.

"Yeah, okay," she mumbled, sighing. The three of them were quiet for a minute, staring at the road. They were a strange sight: a beat up Batman, Catwoman, and Luke Skywalker sitting on a front porch, staring at the road. Adelaide began laughing, making the other two look at her strangely.

"You think this is funny?" Peter asked. Adelaide shook her head, not being able to stop laughing.

"No, no," she said, catching her breath just to burst out laughing again.

"We look...We look ridiculous," she wheezed. Peter glanced at Ned, worried about their friend. He might have been the one to get beat up, but he was worried about her going crazy.

"Ada –"

"You...You're a beat up Batman...I'm a hysterical Catwoman...and...and then Luke Skywalker!" she said, bursting out laughing again. Peter found himself smiling and he began laughing too.

"I'm...I'm loser Batman," Peter joked, laughing. Adelaide nodded, her eyes tearing up.

"I'm Batman's sidekick, Luke Skywalker," Ned said and then he bursted out in laughter too. The three teenagers laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation until their stomachs started aching and they were gasping for air.

Then they quieted down, looking out at the setting sun. Adelaide sighed, leaning back against the wall. There were many thoughts running through her mind, but the reoccurring one was that she suddenly realized how grateful she was for these two dorks. Sure, they were a little stupid sometimes and they loved Star Wars so much it was an obsession at this point, but she didn't think there was any other dorks in the world that she would like as much as these two. Over the few months that she'd been here, they made living easier.

"We should probably go home," Peter said, still staring at the sunset. Adelaide and Ned nodded.

"I'll call Ben," Peter said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and wincing at the gesture. He dialed the number and stepped off the porch to talk, leaving Adelaide and Ned to continue staring at the sunset.

"I still can't believe we're going to meet Mr. Stark tomorrow," Ned said and Adelaide closed her eyes. It was fine as long as she wasn't thinking about that. There were so many things that could go wrong tomorrow. She should cancel it, make up another lie. She glanced at Ned and then sighed. She couldn't do that to him. She had just been thinking about how grateful she to have him as a friend, she couldn't lie to him again. Especially not when he was so excited about tomorrow.

"Do you think he'll wear his Iron Man suit?" Ned asked. Adelaide glanced at him sideways.

"Do you want him to wear his suit?"

"Of course!"

"Then he'll wear it." Ned grinned, looking happier than she'd ever seen him and Adelaide found herself smiling slightly. She'd made him so happy.

"Ben's coming," Peter said, walking up the porch steps.

"Hey!" Ned suddenly shouted, "I just had the best idea."

Adelaide and Peter glanced at each other, eyebrows raised.

"What's that?" Peter asked, leaning against the railing.

"We should all have a sleepover tonight. We can watch scary movies! You know, Halloween!" Adelaide considered it. It wasn't a terrible idea. Tomorrow was Saturday so they didn't have school either.

"You had me at scary movies," Adelaide said, making Ned grin. She loved watching horror movies. They always got her heart racing and, sometimes, it was hilarious to see how stupid the characters could be.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Peter said, "Ben's on his way here, we can all just go to my house."

Adelaide nodded.

"Let me just tell my aunt that I'm going," she said, pulling out her phone and stepping off the porch.

"I'll call my mom, too," Ned said. Adelaide dialed Pepper's number, holding the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Pep, how's the Tower without me?" Adelaide asked.

"Quieter," Pepper joked, "How's the party?"

"A bummer. Pete got in a fight with Flash and, well, he lost. Anyway, so Ned and I were gonna go to Pete's house to sleepover. Watch some horror movies and other Halloween stuff. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Have a blast. Just not too much," Pepper said and Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Why does everyone always say that? I can handle a little fun or freedom," the teenager said the woman rolled her eyes.

"If you say so. Well, call me when you wake up tomorrow morning. I'll let Tony know you're gonna spend the night out."

"Thanks," Adelaide said, "You're the best, Pep."

"Not if you keep using that nickname."

"Bye, Pep," she said with a smile.

"Bye, Adelaide," Pepper said sternly, though Adelaide could hear the smile in her voice.

As Adelaide was putting her phone in her pocket, she realized that Ben was already here and Peter and Ned were inside the car. Adelaide smiled, making her way to the car. She waved at Ben through the window, opening the backseat door.

"Hey Ben," Adelaide said, closing the door once she was inside.

"Hey kiddo, heard the party was a bummer," he said, glancing at Peter. She chuckled.

"I told them we shouldn't go, but they forced me to." Peter and Ned glared at her and she smiled. She had the right to say 'I told you so' at least once tonight.

"Well I think the sleepover idea is brilliant. It's Halloween, after all," Ben said, pulling the car out of the driveway. A little drive later, they were at the Parker residence. Adelaide stepped out of the car, stretching. This catsuit was really tight.

"Do you like scary movies?" Peter asked as they walked up to the door. Adelaide grinned.

"Love them," she answered.

"Good," Peter replied as the door opened. "Because we're gonna be watching a lot of them."

"Hey guys!" May said, lighting up at the sight of them. "Come in!"

They all walked inside, grateful for the warmth. It was only September, but the cold wasn't holding off. They did live in New York, after all.

"Peter! Goodness! What happened to you?" May shouted. Peter glanced at Adelaide who gave him a thumbs up.

"Pete here tripped down the stairs," Ben said, winking at Peter. He smiled, grateful.

"Honey, you've got to start being more careful," May said, ruffling Peter's hair, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Sorry, May."

"I'll go get the first aid kit," she said, hurrying down the hall.

"Thanks Uncle Ben," Peter said, grinning sheepishly. Ben patted his shoulder.

"That's what I'm here for, kid," Ben said, "You kids go have fun, May and I are gonna watch a scary film of our own. You kiddos need anything?"

"Thanks Uncle Ben, but I think we're good," Peter said.

"Alright, then. Have fun," he said and then disappeared down the hall. Peter turned to Ned and Adelaide.

"You two go find the movies you wanna watch, I'll be up with the popcorn in a few minutes," he said and the other two nodded, heading upstairs. Adelaide easily found his room, having been here a million times for her math homework. She pushed the door open, walking inside. Adelaide tossed her phone onto the table, taking a seat in the rolling chair.

"You know where the movies are, right?" Adelaide asked Ned. He grinned, pulling open the last drawer of the dresser. It was filled to the brim with movies and video games.

"You can never get bored in here," Ned said, shifting through the movies. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"How does he get any work done with all these movies?" she asked and Ned laughed.

"You have to learn to multitask. It's a skill, really. How's this one?" he asked, holding up a horror movie. Adelaide squinted, reading the title.  _Scream_.

"Sounds lame," she said and Ned rolled his eyes. His friend wasn't easily impressed by anything. He was yet to find something that did impress her.

"So how many times have you met Mr. Stark?" Ned asked, still looking through the movies. Adelaide cleared her throat, looking at anything but her friend.

"A few," she answered after a moment. Ned didn't miss the vagueness of her answer, but he shrugged it off.

"Is he cool? I mean, obviously he's cool, he's the Tony Stark, but is he cool just like from the news?"

"A little egoistic, but he's not so terrible," she said, hiding a smile. If only Ned knew.

"Wow," he grinned, "I still can't believe we actually get to meet him tomorrow. It's going to be the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"I hope it is," Adelaide said quietly. They were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Although, all Adelaide could think about was how grateful she was that Ned couldn't look inside her head and read her thoughts.

"You pick a movie, I'll be right back," he said suddenly, standing up. Adelaide shrugged.

"Okay," she said as he shut the door on his way out. She got out of the chair, looking through the movies.

_The Living, Corpses, Clown Major, Scared to Death, Boo!_

Adelaide grinned at the last one, pulling it out of the drawer. Maybe it was the cheesiest of them all, but she was in the mood for something cheesy. She stood up, tossing the movie on the table. As she was about to head downstairs to check up on Peter, she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror. The catsuit looked amazing, maybe even a little better than the suit Tony had made for the Blue Phantom. He said it was still a prototype, but he never had time to improve it more.

She brought up her hand, bending her fingers as she felt the familiar energy coursing through them. Adelaide grinned at the feeling. It had been a while since she'd felt it. When she opened her eyes, she was the Blue Phantom with the iconic white bob and glowing blue eyes. Her lips were set into a thin like, eyes narrowed, and cheekbones high. She looked dangerous and she liked it.

Adelaide eyed the catsuit, adding a glowing blue stripe along the side. She grinned, turning around. This was definitely better than her current suit. She adjusted the belt around her waist, adding a pistol and an electrocutor.

She held out the imaginary pistol in front of her, aiming at herself in the mirror.

"Hands above your head," she whispered, making her voice cold and dangerous. Adelaide grinned, putting the gun back in her waist belt.

And then, everything went completely and utterly wrong.

The door opened silently and it was too late by the time Adelaide realized. Ned caught sight of the Blue Phantom and dropped the chocolates in his hand. His eyes widened, mouth falling open. Adelaide quickly turned herself back into Adelaide before she realized her mistake. Ned gasped, looking ready to faint.

"Y-Y-Y-You!" he shouted, pointing to her. Adelaide winced, trying to get her friend to be quiet.

"Ned, listen to me," she started. Ned shook his head violently.

"Y-Y-You're the Blue Phantom!" he shouted.

"No! No, I'm not!" Adelaide said, shaking her head. "It was just my costume! I'm not the Blue Phantom! I don't even know who she is!"

"You're the Blue Phantom! My friend..." he whispered, breathless, "Blue Phantom...No way…"

"Ned."

"Blue Phantom...you…"

" _Ned_."

"How...you...Blue Phantom?"

" _Ned!_ " Adelaide shouted, finally making him look at her. He blinked at her.

"You're the Blue Phantom!" he repeated, "From Sokovia! My friend! A superhero!"

There was no way she could have ever been able to explain this. Nothing she could've said would be believable enough for Ned. She had screwed up, big time.

Suddenly, Peter walked into the room, holding a huge bowl of popcorn. Ned and Adelaide continued to blink at each other, making Peter looking between the two of them, munching on the popcorn.

"Is everything...okay?" he asked. Adelaide looked away from Ned, swallowing.

"I have to go," she suddenly said, grabbing her phone.

"What? Why?" Peter asked, confused.

"I just...I have to go," she said, pushing past and stumbling out of the room. She air in her lungs was getting thin. She heard Peter calling her name behind her, but she stumbled down the stairs, trying to get out of the house. May caught the teenager as she almost fell down the stairs.

"Adelaide? Honey, is everything okay?" Adelaide tried to say something, but no noise came out of her throat. She shook her head, biting her lip.

"Where are you going?"

"Home," she croaked, and then she pulled away, pushing open the door. The cold air outside nipped her face, turning it red instantly. Adelaide quickly walked away from the house, hurrying down the sidewalk until she couldn't see the house anymore.

Her phone began ringing in her hand. Peter. She ended the call, cutting off the noise. Instead, she dialed someone else, holding the phone up to her ear.

_"Hey, kid."_

"Can you come pick me up?" Adelaide said. Her question was quiet and Tony instantly heard the slight shaking in the teenager's voice.

 _"Weren't you were sleeping over at your buddy's?"_  he asked and Adelaide took in a deep breath, looking at the house across from her.

"I just need you to pick me up."

 _"5 minutes,"_  he said and Adelaide hung up.

She bit her lip hard, wondering how she had messed up so badly and how in the world she was going to fix it. She'd been so careless, so stupid. It was her fault she had let her secret slip. Now Ned knew and there was no undoing it. He was going to ask questions that Adelaide didn't have the answers to.

A chilly Halloween breeze swept by and Adelaide wrapped her arms around herself, shivering under her Catwoman costume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! There's the big thing! How many of you saw this coming, eh? I have no idea what's gonna happen after this, but I'll figure it out, I always do lol. If not, I'll just go bother my friend with questions until she helps. I do have a general idea of where this is going and I'm so excited for that toooo. We're finally making it to the good part. I feel like it's been a year of this story already even though it hasn't.
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think of this big plot twist, I'm super excited to see your reactions!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! So the last chapter, we got to see some (hopefully) surprising action. I really thought that I had made it too obvious, but, hey, I guess I had done better than I thought! Although, I had done the whole Ned getting hints about Adelaide and Tony just to divert your attention when he found out that she was the Blue Phantom. Just one of the tricks I had up my sleeve...Anyway, so this chapter is a little less climatic than the last one. To be honest, most of this chapter is just Adelaide sulking over the last chapter and trying to make up her mind. So, there's not much but it's important. I've actually been waiting to write the last scene of this chapter since even before Age of Ultron so I'm super excited about that even though I kind of got writer's block towards the end.
> 
> I have an idea for what I want in the next chapter and I would tell you my plans for this timeline, but I don't want to spoil this chapter so I guess I'll just tell you guys that in the next author's note just so we can be on the same page. I will say that the next chunk of this story is mainly gonna be like a hybrid of Dawn of Truth and the Spider-Man origin story.

* * *

_"Or what about Captain America?_

_Does he actually look old?"_

* * *

Adelaide grunted, throwing a punch. She was drenched in sweat, breathing hard. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead with her arm, shaking her head. Adelaide positioned her feet again, gritting her teeth as she eyed the punching bag.

"Так!" ( _So!_ )

Punch.

"ебаный!" ( _Fucking!_ )

Punch.

"глупый!" ( _Stupid!_ )

_You're the Blue Phantom!_

She growled, punching the punching bag so hard, she felt the vibration travel through her arm.

_From Sokovia!_

Adelaide spun around, hitting the bag again. Her entire body was burning with energy. She was seeing spots in her vision, yet all she could see was the punching bag in front of her.

_My friend! A superhero!_

She kicked the bag angrily, smashing it as it came swinging back. She swung her leg around, landing another hard kick on it. It swung backwards. When it came back, she began punching it as hard and fast as she could. She focused on the punches, the movement of her hands, the sweat rolling down her face.

_You're the Blue Phantom! From Sokovia! My friend!_

Adelaide growled angrily, throwing her last punch as hard as she could. Then she slumped over, leaning against the railing. She stared at the punching bag, seeing flashbacks of last night. How could she have been so fucking careless? She had one job. One fucking job.

Adelaide heard the door opening, but she didn't acknowledge it, knowing exactly who it was.

"Go away," she grumbled. Tony stepped over the rope, coming inside the ring. She glared at him and he just blinked in oblivion.

"что ты хочешь?" ( _What do you want?_ ) she mumbled.

"Okay, you've been acting like a little demon ever since I picked you up last night. So shoot. Talk to me. Confess. Spill it. Spill the beans, kid." Adelaide sighed, picking her water bottle off the floor. She began to chug it, to avoid answering any questions. Tony rolled his eyes and then snatched the bottle out of the teenager's hand.

"Hey!" she shouted, wiping the water off her chin with her arm.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked sternly. Adelaide glared at him, turning around and grabbing the towel to wipe her face.

"Adie, come on," he said and she sighed.

"Nothing happened yesterday," she told him and then turned away again. Adelaide glanced at her phone, scrolling through. There were at least a 100 missed calls from both Peter and Ned. She frowned, turning her phone off.

"You're not half as good at lying as me," the billionaire said, stepping in front of her, "So quit stalling and tell me what happened." His voice was quiet, but he didn't sound angry. In fact, he sounded worried. Adelaide stared at the ground, swallowing. God, she felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

"I screwed up yesterday, okay?" she said and then turned around, stepping out of the ring. Tony grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"What'd you screw up this time? Please don't tell me it was my Maserati." She pulled her arm out his grip, glaring at him. Was he ever serious?

"It wasn't your Maserati," she grumbled. Adelaide tightened her jaw at the thought. She felt humiliated and she had no one to blame but herself.

"Did you kill a man? I mean, what? What is it? Just tell me." Adelaide sighed, rubbing her face. She suddenly realized how tired she was. She hadn't been able to sleep all night.

"I let my secret slip. Ned knows I'm the Blue Phantom," she said quietly. Tony didn't say anything for a while, making the teenager look up. To her surprise, he looked confused.

"That's it?" he asked and Adelaide felt her jaw dropping.

" _That's it?!_ " she shouted, "Tony, he knows! Just because the whole world knows you're Iron Man doesn't mean I want the whole world to know I'm the Blue Phantom, okay?"

"What? No! Look, what I'm trying to say here is, do you trust this guy?" Adelaide closed her mouth, looking at him curiously. She tried to process his statement in her mind.

"What?" was all that came out.

"He's your friend. Do you trust him?" Adelaide considered it. Did she trust Ned? Yeah, of course, but on what level? Sure, she trusted him to not cheat off her test, but did she trust that he wouldn't tell her secret to everyone else? Could she?

"I...I don't know." Tony blinked at the teenager.

"Alright, look. Do you see him as the kind of guy to go around telling people your secret after seeing the way you reacted when he found out?" Adelaide considered his question. Ned wouldn't do that, would he?

"I don't think so?" Tony patted her shoulder.

"Problem solved. You should trust him," the billionaire said, looking proud of himself rather than the teenager, "I'm not as terrible at this as I thought."

"You're still pretty bad," she said and he rolled his eyes. Tony ruffled her hair and then stepped out of the ring, walking out of the workout room. Adelaide sat down, holding her head in her hands, sighing.

How was she even supposed to face him again?

Suddenly, her phone rang again and she picked it up, staring at the name. Letting out a breath, she pressed the green button, holding the phone up to her ear.

" _Ada?! Oh my god, thank god you're okay. I was so worried that something happened to you and especially after you ran out like that without an explanation and it must have been at least a million times I've called you since last night, why weren't you answering my calls? May and Ben were so worried and I tried calling your aunt and then I realized I didn't have her number so I kept trying to reach you but you just wouldn't pick up. Do you have any idea how worried we all were? How much we tried to contact you? You could've just sent me a message telling me you're okay. Here I was redialing your phone number like an absolute idiot. I should have know you weren't going to pick up. You never tell me anything that's going on in your life, I should just stop bothering."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adelaide asked, frowning.

" _That's all you got from everything that I just said?"_ he asked, sounding exasperated.

"No, I heard the rest." There was silence for a moment.

" _So?"_ he asked.

"So?" she repeated.

" _Ada!"_

"Okay, okay, fine. I'm sorry. You're right, I should've texted you. It's my fault, I'm sorry. I was just so angry that I couldn't think straight," she said before realizing her slip up.

" _Why were you angry?"_  She sighed, cursing at herself. She was a screw up. She couldn't do one thing right. Not one.

"I...uh, stubbed my toe," she said, wincing. The first thing she could think of was  _that_? Adelaide sighed.

" _Um, what?"_

"Look, Pete, that's not important. What I do want to know is what you mean by 'never tell you anything in my life'. I tell you stuff," she argued.

" _Ada,"_  he said sternly, " _don't change the subject. What happened last night? Why were you angry?"_

_Because Ned found out that I was the Blue Phantom._

She scoffed to herself. If only it were that easy.

"Can we not talk about that? I don't really want to think about it," she said, hoping that would be enough. Her mind was blank — she couldn't think of a single lie that excused her behavior last night. Maybe she'd come up with something later, but right now she needed to steer clear of that topic. She heard Peter sighing.

" _Fine. But don't think I've forgotten it."_

"Thanks, Pete." The two were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Adelaide's mind swirled with confusion. One moment, she felt as if she could tell Ned everything. Everything. About her memories, her strange abilities, even her parents. But then the next moment, she was closed again. She was unsure of herself. She knew she'd have to face him sometime. And he was bound to ask questions that she didn't have the answers to. In fact, today was supposed to be the best day of his life, he had said it himself. Tony was going to meet the two today, just like she had promised them. But now everything was a mess and Adelaide didn't know where to begin cleaning it up.

" _Ada? You still there?"_ came Peter's voice.

"Yeah, I'm still here," she answered.

" _I hate to bring this up now, but…"_ She sat up, suddenly alert.

Did Ned tell him everything? Of course he did, they were best friends. Oh God, now Peter knew too. How was she going to answer to both of them? Maybe she should just end the call right now and move away to Malibu. Then she'd never have to face either one of them again. But what about Tony and Pepper? And Happy? What would she do without them?

" _We still have to finish that Chemistry project that's due Monday,"_ he said and Adelaide let out a relieved breath, wanting to smack Peter Parker on the head for almost giving her a heart attack. He was lucky he wasn't standing next to her right now or she just might have hit him. She took a moment to catch her breath which had gone completely out of control.

"Do we have to do it today?" she asked. She wasn't in the mood for atom modeling after the incident last night. In fact, the only thing she was in the mood for was chocolates.

" _It's due Monday, we have to finish it today."_

"But –"

" _What if I came over to your house?"_ he suddenly suggested. Adelaide's eyes grew wide. Her house? As in the Tower? The  _Stark_  Tower? She shook her head, blurting out yet another excuse.

"My um, aunt and uncle aren't home and I'm not allowed to have people over when they're not around," she lied. That wasn't a terrible lie. Although, it make her feel terrible. She was just spitting out lie after lie. Why did it have to be so complicated?

" _Oh,"_  he said, " _Well, I guess you can come over to my house. Ben and May aren't home, but they won't mind. In fact, sometimes I think they love you more than me."_  He chuckled. Adelaide smiled. Peter was lucky to have an aunt and uncle who cared so much for him.

"It's because I'm more loveable," she teased.

" _Yeah, right,"_ he mumbled, " _So are you coming over or am I going to have to do this all by myself? I gotta tell you though, I'm terrible at crafts."_ Peter knew she was in a good mood now, but the curiosity was killing him. He had to know what happened last night. Maybe he would be able to get her to tell while they were working on the project together. He doubted Ada would tell him anything until she wanted to, but it was worth a shot.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she sighed.

" _See ya."_

Adelaide hung up the phone with a long sigh. Who knew keeping a secret could be so tiring?

* * *

_Knock, knock!_

Adelaide dropped her hand, shoving it in her coat pocket. The weather kept getting colder, but the snow was yet to fall. It was constantly windy and the cold air always turned Adelaide's nose red like a traffic light. She hated getting stuck in the cold, but she couldn't complain. It was November in New York, it wasn't like it was going to be hot and sunny anytime soon.

She let out a breath, watching the small puff of air as she did. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Peter.

"Hey, come in," he said. She stepped inside, grateful for the warmth. The Parker residence wasn't big or extravagant, but it was cozy and Adelaide would take that over any sort of luxury any day. She pulled off her coat and hung on the coat rack by the door, rubbing her hands together. Even though she loved Ben and May, she was glad they weren't home. Otherwise, they would have asked a million questions. Peter eyed his friend with amusement as she shivered.

"Do you want me to turn up the heater?" he asked.

"No, thanks," she muttered. With a shrug, he began heading upstairs to his room and Adelaide followed behind. Suddenly, it struck her that Ned might still be here after their sleepover from last night. She panicked, almost missing the next step of the stairs. She stumbled, catching herself just in time by grabbing ahold of the railing. Peter turned around.

"Are you okay?" he asked curiously. She seemed very jumpy.

"No — Yeah, I'm fine. I just...is Ned still here?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't be too obvious. Luckily, Peter didn't seem to pick up on anything.

"No, he left hours ago. Said he was in a rush or something," he mumbled and then began walking again. Adelaide let out a breath, relieved. Peter opened the door, revealing a total mess inside. There were empty chips bags, empty cans of Coke, scattered popcorn…He chuckled.

"Sorry about the mess, I never got around to cleaning it after last night," he said and Adelaide nodded.

"I figured," she muttered.

"So...did you guys have fun?" she asked innocently. Peter nodded, clearing his desk of candy wrappers.

"We watched like, 7 movies and I don't think I can't even count how many bags of popcorn we ate," he said with a small laugh, looking around the room, "Actually, I think we can."

He began collecting the bags of popcorn around the room, counting aloud. Adelaide rolled her eyes, glancing around the room. So Ned didn't tell Peter. Maybe that was a good sign. She twisted her fingers together anxiously.

"Did...Was Ned acting...different?" she asked. Peter stopped, bent over as he was picking up another bag from under his bed. So his suspicious had been right. Something had happened between her and Ned and that's why she had run out like that. He stood up, clearing his throat.

"Now that you mention it, he was acting a bit jumpy…" Peter answered, "Did something happen between you two?"

Adelaide kept her face impassive, although she was frustratedly screaming on the inside. How had this all gotten so complicated?

"No, nothing," she answered. Peter sighed, shoving the popcorn bags in the trash.

"Ada, what's going on? You can tell me," he said, stepping closer. Adelaide shook her head.

"There's nothing to tell. Ned and I...we, um got into an argument, that's all," she said quickly. She swallowed, hoping he would buy that lie. He looked confused.

"Over what?" She racked her brain for yet another excuse.

"It was silly. He just said my catsuit looked, um...ridiculous and I got angry and...yeah," she said quietly. Peter began laughing.

"That's it?" he asked, "That's what this was all about?" She nodded weakly. She was beginning to hate lying to everyone. Especially her friends.

"Why don't you just call him?" Peter asked. He was suddenly in a much better mood, knowing there wasn't anything seriously wrong with his friend. Adelaide frowned, shrugging.

"I'll do that later. We have to finish the project now," she said, setting her bag down by the door, "I'll make a sketch of the model and you get the materials."

"Yes, ma'am," he mocked and then left the room to get the materials. Adelaide rolled her shoulders and sat down at the desk, pulling out her notebook and beginning to draw the sketch.

After a while, Peter came back with all the materials and they both worked together for the rest of the afternoon, avoiding the topic of last night. They finished as soon as it started to get dark outside and the wind died down a little. Adelaide helped him clean up the mess in his room and then they both collapsed on the chairs, worn out from all the Chemistry and crafts.

"You know," Peter said, staring at the ceiling fan, "you should call Ned. He probably feels terrible."

"Yeah?" Peter nodded.

"Ned will say sorry even if it wasn't his fault," Peter said with a small laugh, "Just call him, I'm sure he's dying to talk to you." Adelaide sighed, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, okay," she said.

* * *

It was late. Tony and Pepper were long asleep, but sleep was rarer than gold for Adelaide. She was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, staring at the wall in front of her. Although, her mind was completely elsewhere, wandering.

She twisted the hem of her shirt around her hand, wondering if she should take Peter's advice. In fact, that's all she had been thinking about since she got home. Even though Peter only thought she and Ned were just having a silly argument, there was some sense to his words. If she knew anything about Ned, it was that he was probably dying to talk to her. Knowing how much he loved superheros, he was also probably dying to ask her a ton of questions. If anything, he was probably ready to burst from excitement and anticipation.

But Adelaide definitely was not. It wasn't easy for her to tell someone the whole truth. She had had a hard enough time telling the Avengers and they were the  _Avengers_  for crying out loud. This was Ned. Ned. One of her best friends. She should tell him, right? Besides, he already knew half of the truth already anyway. Albeit, it was totally her fault and she couldn't blame anyone but herself for the slip up, but it was too late to fix it now, even though she'd thought of a millions ways to do so. She had to focus on the present, the truth.

The truth was that Ned already knew and she couldn't avoid him forever. Adelaide sighed, falling back onto the bed. She turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. She was making it too complicated. It was Ned. She should just tell him. Even though it was one am. Adelaide reached for her phone before she could change her mind again and spend yet another hour in a dilemma.

She held up the phone to her ear, suddenly remembering that he was probably awake for the movie marathon on tv he was telling her about earlier this week. Adelaide closed her eyes, wanted him to pick up but also not wanting him to. Finally, she heard his familiar voice.

" _Adelaide?"_ he said, sounding excited.

"Don't freak out on me," she injected quickly before he could start rambling her ear off.

" _I-I wasn't going to freak out. My best friend is a superhero. She's the Blue Phantom who fights with the Avengers. Why would I freak out?"_ he said, his voice slightly shaky from the excitement. Adelaide felt a small smile tugging at her lips.

"You didn't tell anyone, did you?" she asked quietly.

" _Of course not! I haven't told a single person!"_ Adelaide nodded.

"Thanks, Ned."

" _But you gotta to tell me everything. I'm dying from being kept in the dark. I need to know. My best friend's superhero!"_

" _Shh!_ " she shushed him, wondering if there was anyone around him who might have heard.

" _Right. Sorry. My best friend's a superhero,"_  he said again, whispering this time.

"Listen. Top priority. No one else can know. Okay?"

" _Yes. Got it. Deal. No one will know. Wait, who else knows?"_ he asked. Adelaide winced. See, it was questions like this she wasn't really looking forward to.

"The Avengers," she said.

 _Pepper_... _Happy_ …she added in her head.

" _That is so cool! Adelaide you have like, the coolest life! I can't believe my best friend's a superhero! You're the Blue Phantom!"_

"Ned!" she shouted.

" _Don't worry, it's just me. No one else is around."_

"Be careful, Ned. I'm serious."

" _So what's it like? Do you get to say cool stuff like Back off! or Hands in the air! I bet you've never lost a fight before…"_ Adelaide was suddenly reminded of Rosie and she glanced at the doll sitting on the shelf to calm her heart down.

"Ned."

" _I wonder what it's like to fight with the Avengers. Is the Black Widow as scary as they say she is? Or what about Captain America? Does he actually look old? Oh! And Mr. Stark! So you_ have  _met him a lot of times! No wonder!"_

" _Ned_."

" _Does Timothy Lark actually exist? How did you get your powers? Were you born with them? Oh! Were you abducted by an alien ship like that kid Peter Quill and then the aliens gave you your powers? What did you —"_

" _Ned!_ " Silence.

" _Sorry,"_ he mumbled, though she could hear the smile in his voice, " _I'm just so excited! This is like, the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."_

"Listen, I don't want to talk about this over the phone —"

" _Got it. How's tomorrow after school in the library?"_ he asked. She had a feeling he had been planning this for a while now. She couldn't blame him.

"Okay," she agreed.

" _Perfect! I still can't believe my best friend is a superhero! I just want to thank you for being a part of my life and giving me this experience,"_  he said and Adelaide laughed, something she hadn't been able to do for the past couple of days.

"See you, Ned."

" _Signing off, Blue Phantom."_

"Ned?"

" _Yeah?"_

"Don't call me that."

" _Sorry. I'm just —"_

"So excited. Yes, I know. I'll see you tomorrow."

" _Bye!"_

Shaking her head, she ended the call, tossing her phone to the side. She rolled over, staring at the ceiling. Somehow, Adelaide felt like she had made the right choice in deciding telling Ned. With a million more thoughts in anticipation for tomorrow, Adelaide finally found sleep.

* * *

 _ **Pepper:**_   _Wait, why are you late?_

_I overslept._

_**Pepper:**_   _I thought I told Tony to wake you up._

 _ **Tony:**_   _I overslept, too. Sorry, hon._

 _ **Pepper:**_   _You had one job. One._

 _ **Pepper:**_   _Are you at school now?_

_Yes, I'm walking inside._

_**Tony:**_   _Liar._

_**Tony:** _ _I can see you getting in the car with Happy from the window._

_**Pepper:** _ _Adelaide?!_

_Yes! Okay! I'm sorry! I just didn't want you to freak out._

_**Pepper:** _ _It's a little too late for that._

_I'll be there soon, don't worry about it._

_**Pepper:** _ _Be safe._

_**Tony:**_   _Hey! Watch out for the car!_

 _ **Pepper:**_   _What?!_

_Shut up, Tony._

_There's no car, I'm sitting in the backseat._

_**Pepper:**_   _Tony! That was not funny at all!_

 _ **Tony:**_   _You're right. I'm sorry._

 _ **Tony:**_   _Not even a little?_

 _ **Pepper:**_  …

 _ **Tony:**_   _Please don't kill me._

Shaking her head, Adelaide put her phone into her pocket. After falling asleep too late last night, she'd hadn't been able to get up on time and now she was late for school. In fact, she had probably missed her entire first class. Though, that wasn't such a terrible thing since it was only math. Even then, she wasn't exactly anxious to get to school any faster. Sure, she had decided to tell Ned, but that didn't mean it was any easier to talk about it. She was still burning with anticipation

By the time she got to school, it was already time for gym class. Adelaide headed straight into the changing room, changing into her shorts and T-shirt. Once we was changed, she went outside, heading towards the bleachers, waiting for Peter and Ned. After a while, she saw the two walking towards the bleachers side by side and Ned's face lit up at the sight of his friend. She was a superhero! That was never not going to be cool.

"I thought you weren't going to come," Ned said once he got closer. The two took a seat above her and she turned around to face them.

"Yeah, me too," Peter agreed, noticing that his friends had made up, "What happened?"

Adelaide smiled, feeling relieved that she at least didn't have to lie about this one too.

"I overslept."

"You know, I have a solution to that problem." Adelaide eyed him curiously.

"Really? And what's that?" she asked, amused. Peter grinned knowingly.

"It's really simple, too. I do it all the time," he started, rubbing his hands together, "So, all you have to do, is avoid falling asleep at 2 am. Easy, right?" She rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Smart ass," she joked, "If it were that easy, you don't think I'd be doing it all the time?"

Peter shrugged. "Beats me."

Suddenly, Coach Graves blew his whistle turning their attention to him.

"Get down here," he announced, rolling open a mat on the floor.

With a groan, the class began making their way down the bleachers begrudgingly. Clearly, he wasn't very likable. There hadn't been any more 'incidents' recently which Adelaide was definitely not complaining about. She couldn't wait for this class to be over even though they had just started school a few months ago. The class grouped together at the bottom of the bleachers, waiting for Coach Graves to give more instruction.

"Today will be our final lesson in our martial arts instruction. You will use everything you've learned so far to beat your opponent. The goal is to have them pinned down for 5 seconds to consider yourself a winner. I need a volunteer to help me demonstrate. Anyone?" he asked.

A couple people raised their hands but Graves' eye was only on Adelaide, of course.

"How about you Miss Rivers?"

"I didn't volunteer," she said bluntly, crossing her arms. He grinned.

"On the mat," he said, stepping back.

She rolled her eyes, walking over. What did he want from her? She stood on the mat lazily, arms still crossed. Adelaide eyed him carefully, almost glaring. No one else in the class had the guts to glare at Coach Graves or talk back to him. Now that she thought about it, she was the only one he didn't get angry at ever. It didn't matter what she did, he never yelled at her. On the other hand, if Flash even looked at Graves wrong, he got detention. What the hell was going on his head? Adelaide was dying to know.

Ned was excited. His friend was a superhero! And she was about to fight their coach! Of course, it wasn't really a fight, but he would take what he could get. He wondered if she would use her superpowers to win. What if she turned invisible? She probably didn't want to blow her cover...again. He was grinning so hard his cheeks were starting to ache. Adelaide was a superhero! The Blue Phantom! The Blue Phantom versus Coach Graves…

"Ready?" he asked her.

She dropped her arms to her sides as a yes. Graves grinned, getting into position.

With one last smirk, he jumped at her, trying to grab ahold of her arm. She moved aside swiftly, somehow expecting the movement. Instead, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back even though he was a full grown man. As she was trying to knock his feet out from under him, he wiggled out from her grip and made her lose her balance. She rolled over before he could get her and then jumped up to her feet again.

She was getting the strangest feeling while fighting him. It was as if she knew his next 3 moves well before he took action. It was almost instinctive as she dodged his fist or faked a left pivot. When he went right, she ducked under his arm to the other side and then kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall over. As he was trying to stand up, she twisted his arms behind his back and pinned him down. Five seconds later, she dropped his arms and stood up.

He grinned, standing up.

"Great use of the last move, Miss Rivers. I was expecting something like that from you," he said and Adelaide narrowed her eyes. What was his deal?

"Alright," he said, clapping his hands together, "Everyone, find a partner, a mat, and get to fighting. Go!"

The class rushed to find a partner and Michelle approached her, a bored look on her face.

"Wanna fight me?"

Adelaide smirked.

"Thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Finally, the dismissal bell rang, signaling the end of school. Everyone was bolting out the door, rushing to get home. Adelaide hung back, slowly putting her books back into her backpack. Ned, on the other hand, was just about ready to burst from excitement. He was minutes away from feeding his curiosity. He had hardly even been able to get any sleep because of this.

As the three of them were walking out of the classroom, Ned glanced at Adelaide, grinning. He turned away facing Peter.

"Peter, you go ahead. Adelaide and I have to work on our...Algebra project in the library," he said. Peter shrugged, not questioning it.

"Alright. See you guys tomorrow," he said, walking out the doors. Ned turned to Adelaide, grinning.

"Come on, let's go to the library!" he said, practically dragging her there. They headed over to the back, sitting by the computers. They ran past the librarian who shushed them for being loud, even though there was no one else in the library. There was only one light on in the back and it was dim, making it dark.

Adelaide hated the dark.

"So did you really fight Ultron in Sokovia? Was he scary?" Ned asked, "Did you fight against Ultron? What was he like? He had a whole army of Ultron bots. They must have been hard to fight. I saw you, on the news, fighting one of them! What did it feel like? It must have been so terrifying."

Adelaide silently pulled up her sleeve, revealing the mark one of the Ultron bots had left on her arm. It was very faint now, but she would never forget it was there or how she got it.

"Woah," Ned said in shock, "Did an Ultron bot give you that?" She nodded, letting her sleeve fall back down and covering the scar.

"How did you get your superpowers? Were you born with them? Can you really control light?"

"I don't know, don't know, and yes."

"Wow…" he said, at a loss for words and, thankfully, anymore questions. Adelaide searched his face carefully.

"I just don't understand one thing...how did you end up here?" Ned asked quietly after a while. Adelaide hesitated.

"I came here 11 months ago," she answered, "I woke up at the Stark Tower and I don't remember anything before that."

"Like...anything?" She shook her head.

"Nothing at all. I'm 14 years old and I don't remember 13 of them."

"That's crazy…What about your parents? Do you remember them?"

"Not really. I only have one memory of them and it's the one where they were killed. Other than that, I don't even remember what they were like," she said with a shrug.

"Adelaide, that's terrible...I'm so sorry…" Ned said. He took another moment to take in the information, thinking to himself quietly. Suddenly he remembered what his friend had said.

"Wait, did you say you woke up at the  _Stark_  Tower?"

"Yeah," she said with a grin as she watched his face present a million emotions in three seconds.

"Wh-How-When-Wha…?" he stuttered.

"Yes, Ned. I live at the Stark Tower," she said, answering his unspoken question.

"Wh…?"

"Tony and Pepper," she confirmed.

"How…?" She shrugged.

"I don't know how I got there. I just know that I woke up there and Tony and Pepper have taken me in ever since."

Adelaide thought back to the time when she had woken up. The first person who had been there was Happy and then there was Tony and then Pepper and then the Avengers. Now that was her life. It felt so long ago. So much had happened since that day.

"I think I'm going crazy," Ned said after a while and Adelaide chuckled.

"That's what I thought for about a solid month after I woke up," she said. The moment she had discovered her powers, she had really thought that she had lost it.

"So you woke up at the Stark Tower and now you live there, you have powers that can control light, you fought with the Avengers in Sokovia, you can't remember anything from your past, and you still go to school?"

"Yeah, that just about sums it up."

"Everything makes so much more sense now," he said, dazed, "All those times I thought you were hiding something or when I saw you getting out of the car with Happy Hogan...I wasn't just seeing things. It was all true!"

"Yeah...sorry about the whole keeping a secret thing. I don't think I'm ready for everyone to know just yet. Although, I do want to keep my identity a secret so please don't tell anyone."

"Adelaide, I swear on my life I won't tell a soul." She smiled, grateful.

"Thanks, Ned."

They both were silent for a while, thinking. In a way, telling Ned had definitely lifted a weight off of her chest. Although, if he hadn't seen her as the Blue Phantom that night, she doubted she would have told him any time soon. Maybe she was waiting to find out something else about herself, know who she really was.

"Have you tried looking for what might have happened to you in the past? The part you can't remember?"

Adelaide sighed.

"That's all I've been trying to do ever since I got here. We even asked Fury to look into SHIELD files —"

"Wait, SHIELD?"

"Yeah, my parents were SHIELD agents," she said, "But Fury said their files were empty. Someone had stolen all of the information about them just to keep me in the dark. I know there's someone behind all of this, there's gotta be, but I just don't know who."

Ned was quiet, thinking. Adelaide watched him, curious. She could almost see the gears spinning in his head.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

"Have you tried looking in HYDRA files?" he asked and Adelaide gave him a confused look.

"What? Why would I look there?"

"Well, you said your parents were SHIELD agents and your parents' files were empty and...HYDRA is SHIELD's biggest enemy…"

Adelaide followed his thoughts, connecting the link. Her mind was spinning a million miles a minute. It was like puzzle pieces were falling perfectly into place. And then, everything clicked.

"...And HYDRA might know what happened to my parents," she said aloud.

"Bingo."

"Ned! That's brilliant!" she said, trying to keep her voice quiet despite the excitement, "I can't believe I didn't think of that before. It's so obvious! But how do we get access to HYDRA files?"

Ned grinned knowingly.

"Just leave that up to me."


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what's going down in this chapter? Well, Adelaide gives Ned like about 20 heart attacks and that's pretty much all that happens lol. This isn't an action-packed chapter, but still very necessary to the plot unwinding. There's a little bit of our favorite billionaire and red-head (Pepper, not Natasha).
> 
> Alright so after this chapter, Adelaide and Ned are gonna start working like a real team and then some other stuff I don't know yet. I will point out that currently it's November in the chapter and Peter gets bitten by a spider on December 1st...Gosh! I'm so excitedddd! I know we haven't seen a lot of him lately, but that's gonna change reaaal soon. ;)

* * *

_"She's an assassin._

_She's terrifying._

_And you call her Nat?"_

* * *

"452," Ned answered confidently.

Mr. Hans smiled at him, something he hardly ever did. He had definitely never smiled at Adelaide. Then again, she was a horrible student so she couldn't really complain.

"Excellent Mr. Leeds, excellent!" he said, turning around to write the answer on the board. He circled it exaggeratedly. This man was too obsessed with math. He had crossed a line. In fact, he was so far away from the line, the line was a dot to him. ( **A/N: Please tell me you get this reference** )

"He loves you," she mumbled. Ned rolled his eyes.

"So are we really arguing about this again?" he asked, tapping his pencil against his desk. Adelaide frowned, annoyed by the sound.

"He loves you," she repeated mockingly.

"He does not  _love_  me."

" _Shh_ ," Michelle said, glaring at them as if they were actually distracting her from the lesson. Hell, she wasn't even listening. Adelaide could clearly see the white earbuds in her ears. And the novel inside her textbook. How she passed any of her classes, Adelaide had no idea.

"You know you have to have a B in this class to be able to go to the field trip?" Ned asked, whispering now. Mr. Hans had informed them about an upcoming field trip next month to some museum to see radioactive spiders. He stressed that every student had to have at least B in every class to be able to go. He had looked at Adelaide while saying it.

"So I can see spiders? I think I'll pass," she said, leaning back in her seat.

"But they're not just spiders! They're enhanced! The best of their kind!" he exclaimed.

"But they're still spiders, so not very interesting."

Suddenly, the bell rang, dismissing the class. Adelaide quickly packed her backpack and they both hurried outside. As usual, the two met up with Peter in the hallway outside their class before heading down to the gym together. Peter grinned at her and she raised an eyebrow.

"No 'Mr. Hans did this today' story?" he said, nudging her with his elbow as they walked down the hall to gym. She frowned.

"First of all, I do not sound like that and second, it's the same thing as every day before today. He loves Ned."

Ned frowned, annoyed.

"Adelaide said the enhanced spiders were lame," Ned accused. Peter's eyes grew wide.

"Lame?  _Lame?_ Adelaide, those spiders are like the all in one. They have  _everything_. I've read so much about them online, I can't wait to see them in real life," Peter said, nerding out for a moment. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine," she said, accepting defeat, "I'll bring my grade up by next month to go, but you're gonna have to help me." She pokes his arm and he grinned, pushing his glasses up.

"Deal," he said, pushing open the gym doors. These two dorks somehow always talked her into the weirdest situations. Like, radioactive spiders? Sure, it was cool but they were still icky, crawly spiders nonetheless. As Peter went inside the locker room, Adelaide held Ned back, grabbing his arm.

"Have you found anything yet?" she whispered and Ned immediately understood what his friend was talking about.

"I haven't looked yet, but I know where we can find all the information we need," he said, grinning proudly.

"And where's that?" she asked, not entirely convinced.

"You'll see," he said.

"Ned, you gotta start telling me what you're up to, it might not —"

"Yo, Adelaide," Flash said, making her straighten up and attempt to drop any suspicious expression on her face. The last thing she needed was for Flash to find out.

"Catch!" he said, throwing a volleyball at her. She threw it back without missing a beat, hitting his toe.

"We'll talk about it later," she whispered to Ned before running to the girls' locker room. Nowhere was safe, where could they possibly talk about something as secretive and important as this?

Suddenly, the perfect location struck her.

* * *

"Sentence structure is key to communicating the…"

Adelaide tuned her out, as usual. She suddenly realized why all her teachers thought she was a terrible student. Not caring any more or less, she glanced at Ned who was sitting to her right. She had to find a way to tell him the location without Peter finding out or he would get suspicious. She couldn't text him because the English teacher had a strict no-phone-in-class policy. And if she tried to whisper it, who know who was eavesdropping?

Looking around for an idea, her eyes landed on the notebook sitting in front of her. She glanced at Ned and then at Mrs. London who was turned around, writing something on the board. She seized the opportunity and ripped a sheet of paper from her notebook, scribbling down her note and folding it up before discreetly passing it to Ned. He was confused for a moment before he caught on and grabbed the note from her hand, hiding it in his first.

Glancing at her, he opened the note under his desk, his eyes running over it.

_I have the perfect place for us to meet._

He glanced at Mrs. London before pulling out his pencil and scribbling on the note. Folding it up again, he passed it to Adelaide who took it under her desk. From the corner of her eye, she saw Peter looking at her and she pretended the note was a part of the assignment until he looked away.

She opened the note.

_Where?_

Quickly, she pulled out her pen and wrote down the answer, glancing at Mrs. London again. Her back was still turned. Hiding the note in her fist, handed it to Ned. Just as he was about to open it, Mrs. London turned around to face the class.

"Any questions about that?" she asked. No one raised their hand and so she nodded. "Good. Now let's move on to cause and effect…"

As soon as she turned around, Ned opened up the note, his eyes moving from left to right. Adelaide bit her lip nervously, hoping he wouldn't freak —

"The Stark Tower!" he exclaimed aloud, causing everyone to turn and look at him. Mrs. London looked particularly annoyed and Adelaide winced.

 _She was going to see the note, she was going to see the note, she was going to see the note_.

"Excuse me, Ned?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Ned's eyes grew wide and he glanced at Adelaide, panicked.

"Um, sorry...I was just...uh...making a list of my favorite places," he said and Adelaide rolled her eyes, refraining herself from face palming. If she was a bad liar, then he was the worst. Peter looked at her, confused and Adelaide shrugged, pretending she had no idea what was going on. Peter chuckled, shaking his head.

"Next time, do it in your head. I can't have people interrupting my classroom," she said with a sigh as she turned around. "Now where was I? Right, cause and effect. So…"

The note came back to her and she glanced around before opening it up.

_Are you crazy?_

She grinned, writing back and passing it to him.

 _I just might be_.

* * *

Adelaide was anxiously waiting for Happy to come back with Ned. It was driving her crazy. She might actually get to discover something about her parents. She cursed at herself for not thinking of looking in HYDRA's database sooner. The idea was brilliant.

"You okay, Adelaide?" Pepper asked, coming into the kitchen. Adelaide turned around as the woman was opening up the fridge. "Do I need to ask Happy to bring chocolates on his way back?"

Adelaide grinned sheepishly.

"For me? Thanks, Pep." Pepper rolled her eyes, smiling as she closed the fridge, standing up. She pulled out a chair and took a seat next to the teenager, watching her curiously. Adelaide tilted her head to the side.

"What is it?" Pepper asked, a small smile on her face.

"What? There's nothing."

"You seem happier than usual," the woman noted. Adelaide raised her eyebrows.

"I'm just...having a nice day." Adelaide didn't want to tell her or Tony what they were up to because she knew they'd freak out and then try to take control over the situation themselves. But she wanted to find out on her own. And if she did learn anything, she didn't want to be stopped from finding out more, no matter how dangerous it would get. And she had a sinking feeling that it would.

Pepper grinned.

"I don't think so," she said.

"Well," she said, getting off the high chair, "Whatever it is, I'm glad that you're happy. You haven't been the same since…"

Adelaide dropped her smile, knowing exactly what she was talking about. She couldn't think about that right now. That genie was out of the bottle. The woman ruffled Adelaide's hair, knowing she was bothered by the action. Adelaide frowned, hurrying to put it back into place.

"So are really not going to tell me what it is?" Pepper asked, a cup of coffee somehow in her hand now. Adelaide pretended to think about it.

"No," she answered.

Suddenly, FRIDAY's voice came from the overhead speakers.

" _Adelaide, Ned Leeds has arrived in the lobby, here to see you. Should I send him up?"_

Adelaide jumped off of her high chair, shaking her head.

"No, I'll go get him myself."

" _Alright."_

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were smitten with Peter."

"I am not smitten with anyone, for your information. Ned and I are just working on a project for class. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get him before he passes out in the lobby from excitement or freaks Happy out."

Pepper laughed, sipping her coffee.

"Have fun," The woman said as she got into the elevator. Adelaide shook her head as she pressed the lobby button on the elevator. Smitten for Peter. Like that could ever happen. A few moments later, the elevator opened up, revealing a very happy Ned sitting in the lobby along with a not so happy Happy. Adelaide grinned, stepping out of the elevator. It felt a bit strange to see Ned here, in this setting.

"Hey, Ned."

"Adelaide!" He bounced up, looking almost relieved to see a familiar face.

"This friend of yours — what's your name again, kid?" Happy piped up.

"N-Ned, sir."

"Yeah, Ned. Too excited. How can you possibly ask that many questions in two minutes?" Happy said. Adelaide laughed as Ned turned red, still grinning.

"I figured he'd do that."

"Anyway, I have to head out. See you around, kid. Bye Adelaide," he said, walking away.

"Do I really get to see Tony Stark's penthouse?!" Ned asked as soon as Happy was gone.

"Well, I wasn't exactly planning on discussing everything in the elevator," she retorted but Ned didn't seem bothered. He was going to  _the_  Tony Stark's penthouse! This was the best day of his life. Never once did he think he would actually get to step foot in the Stark Tower, yet here he was, about to go into his penthouse! It was so crazy, he was barely processing it all.

Suddenly, Ned heard a voice that made him lose his balance.

"Hey, Adie," Tony said, approaching the two. Ned turned around slowly. Lo and behold, the actual Tony freaking Stark! In the flesh! Ned went slightly dizzy. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming and after feeling the pain that shot up his arm, it was definitely certain that he was very much  _not_  dreaming. This was really happening.  _He was meeting Tony Stark_.  _The_  Tony Stark. Iron Man. It took him every nerve in his body to keep himself from jumping up and down like a toddler on Christmas morning.

"Hey, kid," Tony said, standing next to them. Ned was shaking from excitement. Tony Stark just talked to him! Ned would definitely not mind if he died right about now. He'd done everything he'd wanted in his life. Tony looked at the teenager curiously when he didn't respond. He glanced at Adelaide and then leaned down, whispering in her ear.

"Is he okay?" he asked.

"Yes," Adelaide whispered back, slightly annoyed. Tony straightened up, clearing his throat.

"Right, okay. Well, Adie's told me all about you. All of the bad things, of course." Ned was paralyzed. Adie? Tony Stark; genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist had a nickname for his best friend? Ned couldn't believe his ears. Adelaide sighed.

"Tony, what do you want?" she asked.

"What?" he said, offended, "I can't have a friendly conversation with my pal…"

"N-Ned, sir," the teenager finally said, finding his voice.

"Right. Ned. And please, don't call me sir. I prefer King of the World or Mr. Genius. You know, something subtle." Adelaide rubbed her face.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I'm going out," he answered and Adelaide raised an eyebrow. Ned watched the two banter with wide eyes. It was surreal.

"Out where?" she asked.

"What are you, a cop?" Tony said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Adelaide narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're going to get Pepper a new vase, aren't you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Tony watched her, almost glaring.

"Have you considered becoming a cop? It's a very suitable profession," he rambled, avoiding the topic. Adelaide crossed her arms, staring him down until he broke. The billionaire sighed.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I'm going to get Pepper a new vase. She's mad at you, you know." Adelaide uncrossed her arms, dropping them to her side. The two had almost forgotten that Ned was there, too busy bantering. Although, Ned was completely fine with watching them.

"What? Why? What did I do?" she asked.

"You broke her vase," he said like it was obvious. He turned away, facing Ned, "Well, it was good to see you…"

"Uh, N-Ned," the teenager stuttered.

"Right. Well, I'm off to get a new vase to replace the one that  _you_  broke," the billionaire said, pointing at Adelaide and walking towards the door. Adelaide glared at him.

"Tony!"

"Good talk!" he said over his shoulder before walking out of the building. Adelaide rolled her eyes, annoyed. She knew very well that Tony had broken the vase. He had knocked it over while experimenting with his Iron Man suit arm. Sighing, she turned to Ned.

"Come on, let's go," she said, heading toward the elevator.

"Mr. Stark calls you Adie?" he asked, dazed.

"Yeah," she said, pressing the button on the elevator and the doors closed soon after, "He thinks Adelaide takes too long."

"Woah…" Ned said to himself, almost in a trance. This was unbelievable. He never knew his best friend was so close to Mr. Stark.

"So," she said, tucking her brown hair behind her ears, "You told me to leave the file hunt up to you."

"Y-Yeah," Ned said, bringing himself back to reality, "I have an idea that might work." Adelaide nodded. They couldn't talk too much in the elevator. She knew there were cameras in here so it wasn't safe. For the rest of the way up, they were silent, anxiously waiting. Adelaide had a million questions and her heart was beating in anticipation. What seemed like an hour later, the elevator doors finally opened, revealing the penthouse. Adelaide heard Ned gasp behind her as she stepped out of the elevator.

"This is where you live?!" he asked, eyes roaming around the room, "Holy crap."

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to. But come on, we have to go," she said heading towards her room. Ned had forgotten how to walk and he barely followed after his best friend. Just as she was about to twist the door handle on the door to her room, Pepper shouted her name.

"Adelaide!"

"I'm in my room!" she shouted back, pushing open the door. Ned stood there for a second, confused before Adelaide pulled him inside. Pepper appeared at the door, glancing at Ned whose eyes were transfixed on the woman. That was Pepper Potts. Standing in front of him. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Or maybe Adelaide was playing tricks on him.

"Hi, you must be Ned," Pepper said, smiling as she held her hand out. Ned blinked back blankly until he pulled himself together and held out his hand to shake. Holy crap! He was shaking Pepper Potts' hand. This was the best day of his life! He realized that he was still shaking her hand and he dropped it, feeling his face heat up.

Pepper glanced at Adelaide who immediately put her hands up in surrender.

"I did not break your vase, I swear," the teenager said and the woman laughed.

"I know, don't worry about it. Anyway, Ned, you're welcome to stay for dinner if you want. Happy can drop you home afterwards."

"D-Dinner? Um, s-sorry, but my mom wants me home early," he managed to say. Dinner with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. How did this day actually keep getting better?

"Of course," Pepper said, understandingly, "Well, I'll leave you two to your work. It was nice to meet you, Ned."

He felt himself going red as a tomato.

"Y-You too, Ms. Potts."

"Call me Pepper," she said with a kind smile before turning away and heading down the hall. Ned tried breathing exercises.

"H-Hey Adelaide?"

"Yeah?" she said, her eyes on the computer screen.

"Who was that woman you brought to Coach Ross' funeral?" he asked, not sure if he was prepared to hear the answer. Adelaide grinned, turning around in her chair.

"Guess."

Ned's mouth fell open.

"No way!" he said and Adelaide chuckled.

"Come on," she said, turning around, "Show me those files."

Somehow, Ned managed to open up his laptop and login. Adelaide sat down beside him, watching in curiosity.

"Do you remember, earlier this year in January when Black Widow and Captain America released those HYDRA and SHIELD files to the world?" Ned asked, typing something in the computer. He opened up a terminal, typing some incoherent words into the blinking cursor.

"Yeah, I remember Nat telling me something about that," she mumbled and Ned looked at her.

"Natasha." He blinked at her blankly.

"Black Widow," she said.

"You call Black Widow, Nat?" he asked in disbelief. Adelaide shrugged.

"Yeah, why?"

"She's an assassin. She's terrifying. And you call her  _Nat_?" Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"She's not that scary once you get to know her," Adelaide defended, but Ned didn't look convinced. "Just get the files, okay?"

"Right," he said, facing the laptop again, "Sorry."

"So since she released those files, anyone can access them?" she asked, reading over his shoulder even though none of it made sense to her.

"Well, ideally, yes. But you have to go through the backdoor to have full access. And only the skilled can take down the firewall."

Adelaide blinked at him blankly, not understanding a word.

"Think of it like a locked door. Only the people with the key can get in. But then people make duplicates of the key and now anyone can get in if they can get their hands on the key."

"Okay," she said slowly, "So you have a key?"

"Well, not exactly," Ned said, typing something else into the terminal window, "I have to find a duplicate and use that."

"Okay," she said again, "And how long does that take?" He pressed enter, grinning.

"That long," he said, copying the code.

"Wait, you got it already?"

"Yeah, now I just have to type it in and...bingo! The files!" he said. Adelaide's eyes were furiously scanning the screen, trying to retain all the information. This was it. She was finally going to get answers.

"How are you going to find my parents?" she asked.

"Just tell me their names," he said.

"Henry and Ava Rivers," she answered and Ned typed them into the search bar. The computer began analyzing over thousands of files, scanning each one until it displayed two files with her parents' names on it. Her heart was beating itself right out of her chest.

"Open them!" she said and Ned tapped them, opening them up.

"That's weird," he mumbled and Adelaide held her breath.

"What?"

"These are from the HYDRA database." Adelaide looked at him, confused.

"But they were SHIELD agents."

"Yeah, exactly. That means that I was right," he said, a slow smile appearing onto his face, "HYDRA has information on your parents. Wow. That is like the coolest sentence I have ever said."

Adelaide was still confused. What information could HYDRA possibly have on her parents?

"Why isn't the file opening?" she said impatiently and Ned frowned, typing something else into the screen. She glanced at him.

"What?"

"The files...they're empty."

Adelaide felt her stomach drop and swallowed, breaking out into sweat. That didn't make any sense. But then again, it made perfect sense. Whoever was keeping this information from her had deleted their files from the SHIELD and HYDRA database so she wouldn't find anything. But why? Why go so many lengths to hide it from her? What was he hiding and why?

"Adelaide?" Ned said, pulling her out of her dizzying thoughts, "Are you okay?"

"You have to go," she said suddenly and Ned grew confused.

"What? Why? Because the files are empty?"

"No," she breathed, "Yes. Someone is trying to hide something from me. They don't want me to find out. And it's dangerous."

"But –"

"No, let me finish. One of the reasons I didn't tell you and Peter about everything was because it's dangerous. I have this feeling that I wasn't exactly an angel in my past. I mean, I'm suspiciously good at martial arts, I can use a gun better than the average person, and my first instinct is to defend myself. So, I just think that it would be safer if you walked away from this right now. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Look, Adelaide, I don't like risking my life as much as the next person but if I can help you find answers, then I don't want to just sit around because it was 'too dangerous'," he said, making air quotes, "I'm all in and you can't kick me out. Plus, I get do cool spy stuff. This is like the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."

Adelaide searched his face. He really was a great best friend and his face told her that he meant every word that he just said. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. Ned grinned, facing the laptop again and typing something again.

Adelaide licked her dry lips, hoping she made the right choice.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are the chances that as I'm writing this Time to Pretend (Homecoming trailer music) starts playing from my playlist? Badum, badum, badum...time to pretend...to pretend. Just a side note, I wrote like 70% of this chapter listening to Come and Get Your Love on repeat and like basically the Guardians of the Galaxy playlist at like 12 am in the morning. You will love this chapter, especially the end. I thought it was hilarious but then again I do feel a little high off of some good music. I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me... Okay, okay, I'll stop. Shoutout to Spotify though, for knowing exactly what I wanna hear to keep me from nodding off again. 
> 
> Enough about that boring stuff. So where are we with this chapter? I distinctly remember Ned almost passing out, no? Anyway, this chapter is just more of Adie and Neddie stumbling around like teenagers always do and there's not that much action in this one either. Sorry about that. This part of the story is just mainly laying low so if there was action all of a sudden, I know I'd be confused. But let just throw out that the ending is hilarious. You'll laugh, I promise.
> 
> Also, I wanted to mention and clarify something real quick. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nat released SHIELD and HYDRA files to the public (right?) so that's what Ned and Adie were looking at the last chapter (hey! I remember what happened now!) but this chapter...well, I don't wanna spoil it, but it's entirely different from the files that Nat released. Just wanted to clear that up.
> 
> Well, I just wanna say that Peter is so close to becoming Spider-Man and I NEED A TISSUE UP IN HERE. I can't wait to get into that timeline, I have so much exciting stuff planned I just wanna skipp all of this (kinda) boring stuff but that would be bad so we're gonna drag through it. I feel like there was something else I had in mind to say in this note but it left me. Typical. Oh wait! I remember it! WE HAVE REACHED 100,000+ WORDS AND THATS A HIGE MILESTONE IM DO PROUD OF THIS STORY AND EVERY LITTLE WORD THAT BUILD UP TO THIS HUGE NUMBER THIS MIGHT BE LIKE MY GREATEST WRITING ACCOMPLISHMENT AND IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!

* * *

_"You guys need_

_to get a life."_

* * *

Lunch was Adelaide's favorite class of the day. The homework was always delicious and there were never any tests. Unless she counted the mystery desert on the last Friday of every month. Tasting the mystery desert was a test like no other. Of course, Midtown High didn't exactly serve a 5-star meal, but it was certainly better than most food that she could make.

"...and then, the space invaders came from the side and boom!" Ned said, waving his arms around animatedly. Peter's eyes grew wide.

"No way! I can't believe I missed it!" he said, opening up the packet of ketchup.

"Did you watch it, Adelaide?" Ned asked, pulling her out of her food fantasy.

"Huh?" came her reply.

"The Space Invaders," Ned said. Adelaide frowned. What in the world was that?

"No, I missed it too," she lied, knowing they would make a ruckus if they figured out she had no idea what that was. Maybe she should stop tuning their conversations out and actually pay attention to them. She didn't remember watching much television before she woke up at the Tower. The majority of everything she knew about movies and shows came from Tony's tv. If she wasn't doing homework or hunting for information on her parents, she was watching tv. But she always watched the interesting stuff. Not 'The Space Invaders'.

"You're still coming over this weekend for your math, right?" Peter asked, sipping his juice. Adelaide groaned.

"Do I have to? I mean, I don't really even like spiders. They're just...spiders. Plus, I miss being able to watch tv in my pajamas on a Saturday."

"Fine," Peter said, leaning forward, "Forget about the spiders for a moment. Don't you want to pass Mr. Hans class with a B?" Adelaide thought about it. It would be nice. And a B grade would be a nice change from a C that she was so used to seeing next to her math subject on her report cards. Spiders or not, it was a field trip which meant she would get to get out of class. That tipped her over the edge in a heartbeat.

"Okay, fine," she said, "I'll be there."

"You know," Ned said, glancing at Peter, "since we already have good enough grades, why don't we make that Lego Invader Fleet you were telling me about? The one with the extra rocket…"

Adelaide tuned them out, scrolling through her phone. Her mind began drifting and the phone screen became blurry.

It had been a few days since she and Ned had accessed the HYDRA files which had turned out to be empty, to her disappointment. But she knew that they weren't always empty. Someone had deleted them just so she wouldn't be able to see what was in them. That just made her want them more.

She still couldn't understand how HYDRA ended up with her parents' files. They were SHIELD agents, had been for as far back as she could remember. Ned's theory did make sense, though. HYDRA was SHIELD's biggest enemy so it explained why they would keep tabs on SHIELD agents. But why her parents? What had they been hiding? And how in world did she get pulled into all of this? It didn't explain her powers or her memory loss. She was still missing something but she next to no idea what it could even be. It was like she was back at square one, just more frustrated.

And then suddenly, someone appeared to add to her frustration.

"You're Peter, right?"

Adelaide looked up, surprised to see Liz Allan standing there. Peter's eyes grew wide and he almost dropped the drink in his hand. He took his time to find his voice again and Adelaide kicked his foot under the table.

"Ah! Yeah! Uh, yeah, that's me," he said with a goofy smile transfixed onto his face. He pushed his glasses up and Adelaide frowned, annoyed. It was like he lost all common sense when Liz was anywhere near him.

"Great," she said perkily, "And you're Ned and you're...Adelaide?"

Ned's mouth fell open. Liz Allan knew his name. Holy crap this was awesome.

"Michelle?" Liz said, glancing at the curly-haired girl at the other of the table who was taking a nap, not so surprisingly. She looked up, dazed. Her eyes landed and Liz and she looked between the four teenagers, confused. How did a girl like Liz end up at this losers' table?

"What do you need?" Adelaide asked, sounding kind of brisk. Liz didn't seem to notice as she shuffled through the binder in her hand. A moment later, she pulled out four papers and handed one to each of them. Adelaide slid Michelle's paper down to her as the girl was too lazy to get up on her own.

"The Decathlon team could really use some new members and based on your grades and academic strengths, we think that you four would be perfect additions to our team. The application process is really simple and if you have any questions, my number is on that paper," Liz said sweetly. Adelaide thought she was acting too sweet. No one could be that nice. "I hope you all can make it to our meeting next month."

Peter's mind was swirling. Liz Allan knew his name. She wanted him to join the decathlon team  _and_  she gave him his number. This was the best day ever!

"S-So I can call you? If I have questions, I mean," he said. Liz nodded.

"Yes, of course. My number is right," she scanned his paper, leaning closer read it better. Peters breath hitched in his throat. Liz smelled amazing up close. Like coconuts and sunshine.

"There," she said, pointing at the number with her perfectly manicured nail. Peter felt his heart beating so fast, he thought it was going to beat itself right out of his ribcage.

"Do you guy have any questions?" Liz asked. Adelaide was quick to answer.

"No, thanks," she muttered. She thought she was acting ridiculous. She didn't even know the girl very well. She couldn't judge her based off of one interaction. And she did seem sweet, but Adelaide couldn't figure out why Liz bothered her so much. She sighed, holding her head up with her hand. Just another thing to add to her ever growing 'I Don't know' list.

Once Liz was gone, Peter and Ned went hysterical.

"Liz Allan just talked to us!" Peter said.

"And she wants us to join the Decathlon team!" Ned added, "Can you believe it! That team is only the for best!"

"Do you think she noticed I was stuttering?" Peter asked, pushing his glasses up. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Pete, I think the entire cafeteria saw your bright red face."

"She's right," Michelle piped up, "You guys need to get a life." And then she went back to sleep again. But Peter and Ned didn't care. Liz Allan has just talked to them! This was the best day of their lives!

"I can't wait to turn in my application!" Ned said, practically bouncing in his seat. Peter nodded.

"Me too. I'm turning it in first thing tomorrow morning," he said, carefully putting it in his bag.

"We can all go to turn it in together," Ned said. Adelaide shook her head.

"I'm not joining." Peter's mouth fell open along with Ned's.

"What?!" they both said simultaneously. Adelaide shrugged.

"It's not for me," she said.

"But, Adelaide, you gotta join," Ned said.

"Yeah. Liz just said that the team needs you," Peter said.

"You guys will be fine without me," she said, waving her hand. Peter and Ned looked at each other in disbelief. They couldn't believe their friend wasn't going to join the Decathlon team. The two of them had been waiting to join for years now and Adelaide had the chance but didn't want to join.

Suddenly, the bell rang and Adelaide was quite literally saved by the bell.

* * *

" _Ned Leeds has arrived in the lobby, should I send him up?"_ FRIDAY asked. Adelaide sighed flipping her computer shut as she stood up. It had been a few hours since she had come home from school and she had been searching the internet ever since. Not so surprisingly, she hadn't been able to find much. To be completely honest, she hadn't found anything at all. It's as if someone had erased her parents' existence from the face of the Earth. Or it could be the fact that she couldn't hack anything even if her life depended on it.

"Yeah," Adelaide said, rubbing her face, "Send him up."

She sat back down on the couch, leaning her head back and yawning. There was something she was missing and there were only two ways she could find it. Either she could just wait for her memories to miraculously come back to her or she could hunt down the man who behind all of this and torture him for answers. Not so surprisingly, she liked the latter better. The elevator dinged, making her sit up.

Ned stepped into the penthouse, still looking as shocked as he had the first time around. Had that flat screen tv always been there? And that glass coffee table?

"I could really get used to this place," he said dreamily.

"It doesn't look like you are," Adelaide teased, a small smile in her voice.

"It's only my second time here," he argued.

"So how many visits will it take?" she asked, crossing her arms. Ned shrugged.

"A couple hundred," he muttered and Adelaide chuckled, shaking her head. A yawn escaped her again as she was about to tell him to open his laptop. Ned noticed, raising an eyebrow.

"No sleep?" he asked. She shook her head, rubbing her face.

"Just my midday crash. I'm gonna go make some coffee, want some?" she said, swiftly changing the topic. The truth was, she hadn't been able to get any decent sleep for the past three days ever since she found the empty files. It was all she could think about anymore. She got up and headed into the kitchen, starting up the coffee maker.

"Hey Adelaide?" Ned asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts?" he asked and Adelaide smiled to herself.

"You can call them Tony and Pepper, you know," she said, "But not Pep, she hates that nickname."

"I know, but it feels weird." Adelaide rolled her eyes, pulling out the creamer from the cabinet.

"They're not home. I think Tony said they were going to a benefit or something. What kind of creamer do you want?"

"Do you have hazelnut?"

"I think we have every creamer there ever was," she joked, pulling out the hazelnut creamer.

"So when are you going to tell them that we hacked into HYDRA files?" Adelaide paused, clearing her throat.

"I'm not?" she said, although it sounded more like a question. Ned immediately appeared in the entrance of the kitchen.

"You're not going to tell them?" he asked in disbelief, "Why not?! Adelaide, this is  _HYDRA_  we're talking about here." She bit her lip, sighing.

"Exactly," she said, pulling out the sugar, "How many spoons?"

"Two. And what do you mean?"

"I just don't want Tony or Pepper knowing about what we're messing around with. I want to keep it just between the two of us, okay?"

"But  _why?_ " he asked, almost whining. He hated keeping secrets. Keeping this one about Adelaide was hard enough, and now was he supposed to hide it from Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts?

"Because, Ned. Do you really think that if I told Pepper that I was going to hack into HYDRA files, she would just let me?" Ned stared at her for a second longer before sighing and looking down at the floor. She was right. If anyone else found out about this, it would be over before it even had the chance to start.

"Okay, I get your point. I won't tell anyone," he said and Adelaide let out a breath of relief just as the coffee maker beeped, indicating that it was done.

"Thanks," she said, pulling out the pot and pouring some coffee into each cup.

"So I have this idea…" he began, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Adelaide could tell from his tone that she wasn't going to like it. Even then, she still wanted to hear it.

"What is it?" she asked, stirring in the creamer and sugar. Ned looked at her nervously.

"We could try hacking straight into HYDRA's database?" he said.

"No," Adelaide said immediately, setting down the creamer, "It's too dangerous and risky for you."

"Do I need to repeat my speech about this subject again?" he said and Adelaide sighed. "Come on, Adelaide! I'm your guy in the chair! I love doing stuff like this! It's so much more interesting than my computer class anyway."

"Guy in the chair?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, you know, the guy who has a bunch of different computers around him and he's hacking into stuff. Oh! and he has that rolling chair!"

"Ned, this is HYDRA," she said, her voice quiet, "Do you even know if you can get in? They probably have Fort Knox security."

"I didn't say it would be easy," he stated, "but I think I can do it."

It  _was_  tempting. And what were the chances something could go wrong? Adelaide ignored the part of her mind that was screaming all the ways it could possibly go wrong. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, stirring the coffee. If they could get into HYDRA's database, they were sure to find answers there. It was like a gold mine. And now that she knew they were hiding information about her parents, she was certain they had something in their database. It was definitely a huge risk. It was  _HYDRA_  for crying out loud. They were the world's biggest enemy and yet they had information on her parents that they were keen to keep from her. Her veins were buzzing with curiosity. Finally, she stopped stirring the coffee, sighing.

"Fine. Okay. We can try hacking into HYDRA's database," she said, seeing a smile appear on Ned's face from the corner of her eye, "But. We're going to start having to be more careful. This isn't just a game or a practice session from your computer class."

"Are you kidding? My computer class  _never_  does anything as cool as this! Ever!" he exclaimed as Adelaide handed him his coffee. They both made their way back to the couch again, where Ned's laptop was sitting on the coffee table, open and ready to go. Adelaide swallowed, sitting down.

"So how do we do it?" she asked carefully, sipping her coffee. Ned opened up his terminal, typing a string of letters into the first line.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I can try a few things…" he said.

"Not sure?" she asked, "Ned, how long is this gonna take?" He shrugged.

"I don't know. It could take days, weeks, or even months before I find the right algorithm."

"Great," she sighed, "So that means it might work, but it could take a few months and if you can't figure it out, well, that's a few months we're not going to get back."

"Well, I'm no Mr. Stark," he said glancing at her and she rolled her eyes, sipping her coffee. She leaned back against the couch, her mind wandering. If she really did find out something about her parents, would she be able to handle it? What could HYDRA possibly be hiding? Just thinking about it terrified her. Once she found out, she wouldn't be able to back to her oblivion. In a way, she had grown accustomed to living in the oblivion. Sure, the curiosity made her restless and uneasy but at the moment, her biggest problem was trying to bring up her math grade to a B so she could go on a silly field trip to see spiders. What if her life changed completely after she found out the truth? Adelaide sighed again, slumping against the couch. It all depended on the truth. It always had.

"Okay, the good news is that I think I found a way we can get in," Ned started. Adelaide eyes grew wide.

"действительно?" she asked, sitting up.

"But the bad news is that HYDRA resets their security system and passwords every 24 hours. Which means that I'd have to get in before 24 hours or then I have to start over."

"Well what are you doing! Get at it!" she said, gesturing to the computer.

"I'm trying, I'm trying but this isn't NASA," he muttered.

"You've hacked into NASA before?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. He shrugged.

"Once, a few years back."

"Huh," she said, "You know, Tony said he did it once, too. They really need to tighten their security a notch." Ned chuckled.

"Or five," he said, his eyes still on the screen and Adelaide smiled. She could've never done this without Ned's help. In a way, he was risking his life for her. Everyone knew HYDRA wasn't just child's play. It was the real deal.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged and the two teenagers glanced at each other, eyes wide and heart beating fast. They weren't supposed to be back for another two hours! The doors opened, revealing Pepper standing behind them, dressed in an elegant gown. She smiled, stepping out of the elevator before it close again. Adelaide elbowed Ned and he flipped the laptop shut, his face heating up. Adelaide was going to make him lie to Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts. What kind of first impression would that make? Well, considering they found out the truth.

"H-Hey Pep," Adelaide said, standing up from the couch, nervously tugging at the hem of her shirt, "You're home early."

Pepper sighed taking off her coat and throwing it around her arm.

"Oh, don't remind me. Tony said he wanted to get out of there early, he said something about the press shoving questions down his throat. I mean, it's never bothered him before," the woman said distractedly, placing her clutch on the table, "I will never understand men."

"Well where is he?" Adelaide asked, glancing at Ned whose red face would definitely give them away even before he opened his mouth.

"He's down in the lobby, talking to Happy," she said, glancing up from her phone, "Oh, hi Ned, have you been here long?" Adelaide watched her. At least she was distracted. That was good. For them, at least.

"Um, no. Actually, I was just leaving," he said, glancing at Adelaide who gave him a subtle nod. He got up, putting his laptop back in his backpack.

"I would invite you to dinner, but I honestly don't know if we're even having one," she said with a small laugh, "Well, it was good to see you again, Ned, but I have got to get out of this dress, it is killing my back." She headed over to her room, grabbing her clutch along the way. Once she was gone, Ned turned to Adelaide.

"I'll work on it at home and I'll tell you if anything happens." She nodded, twisting her hands together.

"Be safe, okay?" she said. He nodded.

"I will, don't worry." Adelaide nodded nervously, thinking of the worst as he walked into the elevator. Ned, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get home. This was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him in his entire life. He was practically a spy! He felt himself smiling, thinking about how cool his life had become all of a sudden.

* * *

Adelaide had stayed up all night (yes, again) for the past three nights in wait for any news from Ned. As much she wanted him to get through to the database, she also wanted to make sure that he was okay. They had no idea who they were up against here and it could blow up in their faces if they weren't careful enough. Even then, Ned still hadn't been able to get into the database. Adelaide sighed, rubbing her eyes. How did it get so complicated? It was probably the millionth time she had asked herself that question. A few months ago, she was just a lost girl who had no idea who she was or could have been and now she was chasing after HYDRA, trying to unravel her past. Was she ever going to get a break from this chaos? Probably not.

Her phone rang, pulling her out of her thoughts. She slid the green button across the screen, answering it.

"Hey Pete."

" _You're still coming over today, right?"_  he asked and she chuckled, looking out the car window as Happy pulled into the Parker's driveway.

"Look outside," she said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. She covered the phone with one hand, holding the door handle in the other. Happy was in his 'Harry' disguise just to be safe. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, Happs. You know what time you're coming right?" she asked.

"Seven on the dot," he said and she grinned, pushing open the door.

"идеальный."

Adelaide told him goodbye over her shoulder as she shut the door and then made her way to the front door of the house as she heard him pulling out of the driveway behind her. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and raised her hand to press the doorbell when the door suddenly opened on its own. Peter grinned at her and she smiled back.

"Bye, I have to go," she said into the phone, making him laugh. He stepped aside, making room for her to come in and she did. She slid her phone into her pocket, taking off her beanie and shoving it in her coat pocket as well. Then she put her backpack down and took off her coat, hanging it on the coat rack and pulling the sleeves of her sweaters over her fingers to warm them up. Just the walk from the car to the door had almost freezed her fingers off.

"Have you started on your homework yet?" Peter asked as he disappeared into the kitchen, "Wait. Why am I even asking? Of course you haven't."

Adelaide laughed to herself, taking a seat on the couch. This time, she had a pretty good excuse for not having even started her homework. She had been restless for the past three days which didn't help with her sleeping schedule. In fact, she really didn't have one at this point. When Pepper or Tony pointed out how tired she looked or how much she was yawning, she would just tell them that she couldn't sleep because of a nightmare and they would usually buy it. Although, Adelaide suspected Pepper had an inkling that it wasn't just a nightmare. Thankfully, she hadn't acted on it.

"You want coffee?" Peter shouted from the kitchen and Adelaide yawned, almost on cue.

"I could use some," she answered, once she stopped yawning. Rubbing her face to wake herself up, she pulled out her math notebook from her backpack along with a calculator and began attacking her math homework. It was safe to say that she had no idea what she was doing but she felt the need to keep her mind from drifting off again so she kept at it until Peter appeared with the coffee a couple minutes later. He handed her the steaming cup which she wanted to just inhale, but she blew on it, taking small sips. She realized that it was strangely bitter.

"We ran out of sugar...and creamer," Peter said, seeing the expression on her face, "So really it's just black coffee. Sorry."

"Don't be," she said, taking another sip and sighing contentedly, "This is just what I need." Lately, she hadn't let the caffeine in her body run low. She always somehow found a cup of coffee in her hand and maybe that explained why she hadn't fallen asleep with her eyes open yet. That would be creepy, though.

"So have you started studying for the test this Friday?" he asked, sifting through his notes. Adelaide looked up at him.

"дерьмо! There's a test this Friday?" she asked, making him roll his eyes.

"Ada, I'm not even in your class and I know about the test," he said and it was her turn to roll her eyes.

"Hey, in my defence," she started and then paused, trying to think of a good defence. She sighed, "...I got nothing."

"Anyway, if you can get at least a B on that test, it will bring your grade up and then you can go on the field trip."

"The only way that's happening is if you take my test for me," she mumbled, sipping her coffee, "And then maybe I'd actually get an A and that would probably give Mr. Hans a heart attack and then maybe we'd get a teacher who hadn't crossed the line with his obsession with math."

"Come on, you're not so terrible at it anymore," he said, sitting back in the recliner, "You've gotten better. I think you can get at least a low B on this test."

"Fine," she grumbled, rubbing her burning eyes, "Teach me math, Math Whiz."

For the next few minutes, Peter just showed her examples of problems from the textbook and they both solved them together, step by step until Peter slowly began letting Adelaide do the whole problem by herself. Not so long after, she had gotten the hang of it and was good enough to do her homework problems by herself. Peter pulled out his notebook, starting his own homework which was twice as much as Adelaide's. Still, he didn't mind helping her out — it was fun. Plus, he always got a kick out of how math was one of the few things that made her lose her chill.

"So are you really not going to join the Decathlon team?" he asked her without looking up, typing something into his calculator. Adelaide paused, glancing at him.

"No, I'm not."

"But Liz said they need you on the team," he argued.

"Pete, have you really not seen how bad I am at math?" she said and he rolled his eyes.

"You're good at other stuff. Like languages and Chemistry. You could do that," he said.

"Why do you want me to join the team so badly?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. He shrugged.

"It's just...I mean, I've been waiting for like three years to join the Decathlon team and I've worked hard to keep my grades up and everything. Even then, I still wasn't sure if I'd make it. And then you waltz in here and get an application and you just say no? Why?"

Adelaide sighed, putting her pencil down. She couldn't tell him that it was because Liz bothered her. The reason sounded stupid, even to her.

"I just have a lot going on in my life right now, okay? I can't add the Decathlon to that mix," she said and Peter stared at her for another second before nodding.

"Yeah, okay," was all he said. They both worked on their own homework silently afterwards, avoiding the topic entirely. Adelaide felt weird as the silence dragged on. Why did Liz bother her so much? What made Adelaide so different from her? Not that she was saying that they should, but why couldn't Peter and Ned stare at her like they did with Liz Allan? Again, not that she wanted them to, but was there just nothing...attractive about her? She almost laughed to herself. The teenager could almost imagine what Natasha would tell her if she figured out what she was thinking at the moment. They were fighters. They didn't have time for this stuff. Their main priority was to not get their asses kicked. Even then, somewhere deep down in her heart, she felt like she was missing out on something important. And Liz was getting all of it. Sighing in frustration, she pressed down on her pencil harder, making the led snap. Adelaide rubbed her face again and then chugged her coffee, feeling the steaming hot liquid as it went down her throat. She winced, wiping her mouth with her sweater sleeve.

"So do you want to go over the problems again?" Peter asked, looking up from his paper and glancing at her for a moment. She shrugged.

"Sure. I just need to –" She was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing and she realized it was hers. She dug into her pocket, pulling it out. Her eyes widened almost reflexively. It was Ned. She slid the green button across the screen, hastily holding the phone up to her ear.

"What is it?" she asked, breathless. Did he find something? Was he in trouble? For a second, she almost forgot Peter was sitting there. She collected herself as much as she could, trying not to let him get suspicious.

" _I finally got in,"_ Ned said. He sounded out of breath, as if he was climbing stairs. " _I'm on my way over to the Tower now."_

Adelaide was already up, packing her stuff up. She ended the call and slipped her phone into her pocket, grabbing her notebook. Peter stood up, looking worried.

"What's wrong? Who was that?" he asked and Adelaide glanced at him nervously, trying to muster up a plausible excuse. She pushed her hair behind her ears, swallowing.

"черт возьми," Adelaide mumbled, rubbing her forehead, "That was um…Ned. He just reminded me of this big math project we have to finish together and it's due, um, tomorrow so I really have to go," she said, pulling on her coat, "Sorry, but thanks for your help. I'll see you Monday, okay?"

Before Peter could even figure out what was going on or what to say, Adelaide had her backpack slung over her shoulder and she was already out the door. Peter stood there for a long minute, absolutely dumbfounded. What just happened? Suddenly, his phone rang, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts. He dug it out of his pocket, still in daze. He didn't even glance at the caller ID.

" _Hey Peter,"_  Ned said, sounding completely out of breath. Thank God, thought Peter. Maybe Ned would tell him what was going on.

"Hey Ned, what's –"

" _Listen, sorry, but I won't be able to come over tonight to make the Lego Invader Fleet. Adelaide just reminded me about this, uh...math project we have to do together and it's due, um, today. Raincheck for tomorrow?"_

"Uh–"

" _Great, thanks Peter!"_

Then Ned hung up the phone, leaving Peter completely and utterly baffled.  _What in the world_  just happened? He rubbed his forehead, feeling his head ache. One thing was for sure: they were both lying to him which meant that they were hiding something. Ada had said that Ned reminded her about the project and Ned said Ada had reminded him. And they both said different due dates. So what were they really doing? What were they hiding from him?

Suddenly, the most absurd thought struck Peter and he shook his head at it's craziness. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense even though he didn't want it to. All the signs pointed towards it. It explained why Ada had been acting weird and why the two of them lied to him.

Ned and Ada were dating behind his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LMAOOOO I think this part is so funny, I laughed for a solid five minutes writing this. But don't worry, I'm not gonna make it a love triangle because I haaaate those things. Like, it was fine when I was 12, but my bar has raised since then. And plus, I'd never do that to you guys. I can't wait to get where we're goinggggg.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER WHERE PETER IS PLAIN OLD PETER PARKER AND I'M FREAKING OUT BECAUSE I'M GONNA MISS MY PETER BABY WHYYYY. I actually, genuinely feel sad, and I just want Peter to stay good ol' Peter Parker forever so nothing bad happens to anyone. I almost don't want to write it, but what can you do. A girl's gotta eat. Lol just kidding, I'm not making any money off of this, just good vibes. *peace sign* Before we stop being emotional, I just wanna say that this chapter is the last time that Pete's gonna push his glasses up and I'M GONNA MISS WRITING THAT HABIT. WHY AM I CRYING,.
> 
> Okay, so before the dam breaks, I just wanna say something about this plot. So I noticed that a lot of other fanfics start with the part where Peter's already Spider-Man and I think that's great, but the reason that Adie didn't start off there was because I felt like she should get to know the dorky Peter Parker before he turned into Spider-Man because I feel like those two Peter Parkers are different people, you know? Anyway, I just really wanted Adie to get to know him first and then even be there through his transition and all the hard times and defining moments so she doesn't seem really shallow. Again, I'm not trying to step on other fanfics, I just felt like I needed to express this for some reason and it's all just my personal opinion. I mean, we've kind of started to see how Adie is low-key jealous of Liz even though she doesn't realize that it's not because of her skirts (although, it kind of is?) but because Peter likes her and anyway it's gonna take a lonnggggggggggggggggg time for her to finally realize that and I think it takes her a longer time since Peter changes so much after he becomes Spider-Man and it's like she has to get to know Peter all over again. So it's still a way down the road, but I kinda just wanted to explain the reason why I set this fanfic so early in the timeline. And this is kind of like a tribute to our old Peter Parker who I'm dearly going to miss writing.
> 
> A final toast, to our dorky non-Spider-Man Peter Parker.

* * *

_"I...I don't know._

_This is the first time_

_I've ever hacked into HYDRA before."_

* * *

The whole ride home, Adelaide was a nervous wreck, driving Happy crazy as she kept tapping her foot nonstop. He was just as relieved as her when they arrived at the Tower. In an instant, the teenager was out of the car and inside the building. Frantically, she jumped into the elevator and pressed the top floor button to the point of abuse until the elevator finally began moving. For a moment, she tried to control her breathing, wrapping her arms around herself.

Was Ned already here? Did he already know something? What was it? What did he know? Oh God, what if it was an ugly truth? What if all of the terrible things that she thought about her past were actually true? She swallowed, her throat dry. How long did it take a damn elevator to get to the top floor?

What seemed like hours later, she arrived at the penthouse and the elevator doors opened. Adelaide stumbled out, her eyes scanning the room for Ned. Instead, she saw Pepper sitting on the couch, looking at the teenager strangely.

"Hey Adelaide," she said, "You up for some tv?"

Adelaide barely heard what she was saying.

"No...I, uh...Ned. Here. Have you seen Ned?" she stuttered, barely managing to get all of the words out. Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, he's waiting for you in your room. Said it was something important. Is everything okay?" the woman asked, standing up. Adelaide swallowed, rubbing her sweaty palms against her jeans. She pulled her lips in, stalling to think of an excuse.

"Y-Yeah, everything's fine."

"Why do you look so frantic? Adelaide, you can tell me if there's something wrong, you know," Pepper said, looking concerned as she took a step closer. Adelaide took a step back reflexively as if the woman would see her lie if she was too close. With her red face and sweat on her forehead, she just might.

"Um, I just forgot that we have this, um, math project due tomorrow and we haven't really started on it so I'm just gonna…" She trailed off, hoping Pepper wouldn't ask anymore questions.

"Oh," the woman said, masking a looking of understanding, "Well I'll let you get right to it. But don't be too late, dinner's in an hour."

"Noted," the teenager said, rushing to her room. Pepper sighed, sitting back down on the couch and resuming her to her tv. Teenagers.

Once she was out of sight from Pepper, Adelaide sprinted down the hall, towards her room. The door was slightly ajar and she immediately pushed it open and stumbled inside. Ned was sitting at her desk, staring at the computer screen with beads of sweat lining his forehead. He turned around when he saw her standing at the door.

"Oh thank God you're here," he said, relieved, standing up. Adelaide tried to control her breathing, dropping her backpack on the floor. She swallowed, walking towards him.

"Did you open anything?" she asked, her voice quiet. Ned shook his head.

"No, not yet, but it was  _really_  hard so hurry up, I wanna see what's inside." She nodded slightly, walking towards the open computer. There was a flashing cursor on the screen, waiting for the command. She glanced at Ned.

"Do it," she said and he nodded, getting back into the chair. She watched him type something into the terminal, holding her breath. Was she really going to get answers this time? Ned glanced at her, his finger hovering over the  _enter_  button.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There's no turning back," he warned. Once they were inside, HYDRA would be able to track their presence. They had no ideas what the consequences could be.

Slowly, Adelaide gave him a small nod and then he pressed the button. One agonizingly long second later, the computer began scanning a million different files, running through millions of pictures and documents that went by too fast for Adelaide to comprehend them. She watched in awe, wondering how many of them hid secrets about her.

"I should warn you that I only have access to files with the tag  _Rivers_. There's no way I could have been able to get access to everything, it's too secure," he said. Adelaide nodded, understanding.

"We just need to find out about what happened with the my parents and me," she said. She had no interest in the other things. Well, not at the moment, at least. Besides, if the Avengers and SHIELD were struggling to get access to the entire HYDRA database, she doubted Ned could have done it single-handedly. For now, this was enough.

Suddenly the screen went dark. Adelaide glanced at Ned, frantic.

"What is it? What happened?" He pressed a bunch of keys, trying to reboot the system, but nothing seemed to be working. The computer was unresponsive. And then, a single white cursor began flashing on the screen. The two teenagers held their breath, mesmerized by the cursor. A moment later, text began writing itself across the screen, filling up the entire screen in seconds. Adelaide glanced at Ned.

"Is that...normal?"

"I...I don't know. This is the first time I've ever hacked into HYDRA before."

The text came unraveling for a while before it finally stopped, the blinking cursor at the bottom of the screen now, under all of the text. Adelaide held her breath, waiting for something weird to happen again. But nothing happened and the cursor kept blinking. A little while later, it got pretty annoying.

"Do something," she whispered. Ned typed something. It looked like a very strange string of numbers and characters to Adelaide and she didn't bother asking what it meant. Suddenly, the screen flashed a sign.

_ERROR!_

_WARNING! TWO ATTEMPTS LEFT!_

"Shoot," mumbled Ned. Adelaide felt a headache coming.

"What is it now?" she asked. Ned scanned all of the text, trying to make sense of it.

"I got access to the files, but...they're encrypted," he said.

"Why? Why? Why does HYDRA have to encrypt everything? Why can't they just make things a little easier for me? Why?" Adelaide groaned, falling onto her bed and staring at the ceiling. She felt her anxiety dropping. Another dead end.

"Well, wait a second," Ned said, turning around and facing the computer again and reading the text, "I think I can decrypt this."

Adelaide jumped up instantly.

"Really? How long? Can you do it now?" Ned scratched his head, shrugging.

"Well...it takes more than a couple minutes, but...wait a second," he said and he typed something else. Adelaide watched the computer screen carefully.

"It'll take a couple of minutes, but I can figure out the names of the files, at least. Maybe that will trigger something in your memory until I can decrypt all of the files," he said.

"Do it, do it, do it," she urged and Ned raised an eyebrow. She pulled her lips in clearing her throat. "Sorry, I'll give you some space."

Adelaide stepped away and then flopped down on her bed again. She closed her eyes, letting out a long and tired sigh. For once in a very, very long time, her mind was blank. There were no thoughts about HYDRA or her parents or her powers or the Decathlon or Liz. For once, she was completely calm.

And then Ned jumped up in his seat. She glanced at the clock. It had already been 30 minutes since she'd been lying here. How had it been 30 minutes already? And she hadn't been even thinking of anything.

"I got the names!" he said and she stood up, walking over to the computer. He scrolled down through all of the confusing text until he came across something that actually made sense. It was English. She had never been so relieved to see English and...Russian? Was that Russian?

"Can you read the Russian parts?" he asked. She chewed the inside of her cheek, concentrating. It had been a while since she'd read any Russian.

"Um, it says...пробный which means...Pilot?" she said. She glanced at Ned, confused.

"What does that mean?" she asked. He thought about it for a second.

"Maybe they were pilots?" he asked. Adelaide considered it.

"No, I don't think so..."

"Oh! Maybe it's like a trail run," he said and Adelaide gave him a confused look, "You know, like how tv shows call their first episode Pilot?"

"I didn't know that," she mumbled, staring at the screen again, "So you think it's a trial run?"

"Could be," he said, shrugging with one shoulder.

"Trial run of what?" she asked.

"Dunno, read the others." She leaned down, scanning over the Russian.

"The rest just say  _Trial 1A_  or  _Trial 109G_ ," she said with a sigh. That only told her that they were running trials of something. But what?

"What do you think they were trialing?" he asked. Adelaide shrugged, running her hands through her hair tiredly.

"I have no idea," she sighed.

"Well, at least we know what's in the files. Reports of some trial they were having," he said, clicking something.

"It's not much help," she mumbled.

"Look, I'll keep trying to decrypt these files, but it'll take some time okay?" he said, flipping his laptop shut and standing up.

"Yeah, okay," she mumbled.

"I don't want to find out what happens when we have zero attempts left," Ned said with a shiver. Adelaide wasn't too keen on finding out either.

"Be careful," she said, "And keep me updated."

"You too," he said, walking towards the door. Adelaide slumped down in her chair, staring out the window.

"Hey Ned?" she said, stopping him just before he left. He turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she smiled. He smiled back.

"You're my friend," he simply said and Adelaide gave him a small nod as he left. She turned around again, facing the window and sighed. She pushed the sleeve of her sweater up, revealing the rugged scar on her arm. The only proof of that night. She ran her thumb over it gently, her jaw tightening.

She couldn't wait to get her hands on the man who killed her parents.

* * *

"Congratulations Miss Rivers," Mr. Hans said as he passed her latest Algebra test to her, "It was a very...surprising improvement."

Adelaide took the paper from his hands, scanning the test for red marks. There was one, at the top and it read a big fat B. Adelaide felt herself grinning.

"Yes! I made a B!" she said and Ned grinned next to her.

"Let me see that!" he said, snatching the paper from her hands. His face lit up at the letter and he held up his hand to give her a high five.

"Now I get to go on that stupid field trip," she laughed, high fiving him. Ned frowned.

"For the last time, Adelaide, there is nothing stupid about radioactive spiders," he said. Adelaide shrugged.

"Stupid or not, I get to miss class," she said and Ned rolled his eyes. The field trip was tomorrow, but Adelaide wasn't as excited as everyone else to see some weirdo spiders. She was just happy to get out of class.

It had been about a week since Ned had gotten into HYDRA's database, yet all they had were the names of the stupid files. Adelaide had read through every file (there were a few hundred) and none of them even offered a hint to what was inside them. Other than the fact that they were experiments of some kind. Adelaide had gone crazy just thinking of what it could be. But the part that scared her the most was what would happen when the attempts turned to zero. Would HYDRA come for them? She didn't want to find out so she was telling Ned to take his time decrypting the files. Even if the curiosity would kill her. Better that than HYDRA.

* * *

The day had quickly ended and soon, they were all standing outside, waiting to go home. It was the last day of November and the snow was yet to fall in New York. The weather had just gotten chillier and windier, but there was still no sign of snow. It had gotten to the point where you'd freeze if you went outside without a coat, even on accident. Even then, Peter, Ned, and Adelaide were all huddled close together to keep warm, despite the huge coats that they were wearing. Adelaide rubbed her gloved hands together to warm them up, shivering.

She glanced at Peter who was standing next to her, staring at the ground, looking lost in thought. Adelaide looked at Ned, silently asking him if he knew what was going on with Peter. He shrugged. Peter had been acting strange all week. Whenever they made plans to do something together, Peter always made an excuse that he had homework or other plans. In fact, the three of them hadn't hung out all week long. She knew there was something wrong, but she figured that he would tell them whenever he was ready. It had been a week now, and he still hadn't said anything to either of them. Adelaide nudged him with her elbow, making him look up from the concrete.

"You okay, Pete?" she asked. He glanced between his two friends and then shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said and then went back to staring at the concrete. Adelaide and Ned shared a worried look. There was definitely something going on with their friend.

"Seriously, Pete. You're a terrible liar," she said, nudging him with her elbow again. He looked at her and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then someone called his name, interrupting their conversation.

"Peter!" someone called and the three of them turned around to see who it was. Adelaide silently groaned. Little Miss Perfect, Liz Allan. She jogged up to them, a perfect smile on her face. Adelaide rolled her eyes at herself. She was jealous of a girl who  _chose_  wear skirts. Adelaide glanced at Peter whose face was red as a tomato and bright as a lightbulb. Could he be any more obvious?

"L-Liz," he stuttered, "Hi." She smiled.

"Hey," she said, slightly out of breath, "I need a huge favor."

Peter cleared his throat. Liz Allan needed a favor from him? Peter Parker? He nervously pushed his glasses up his nose, trying to get his hand to stop shaking.

"A f-favor?"

"I need someone to take pictures at the field trip tomorrow. I would do it myself, but Mr. Harrington asked me to take notes so would you mind…?" Adelaide sighed. Liz had asked so nicely, even Adelaide would have said yes.

"U-Uh, yeah! Sure!"

"You have a camera, right? If you don't, I can just ask Flash to take the pictures," she said. Peter was shaking his head before she even finished her sentence.

"No, no, no, no. I-I have a camera. A really good one, too," he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Liz smiled.

"Great! I'll let Mr. Harrington know. Thanks so much, Peter," she said. Peter grinned like an idiot.

"N-No problem," he said. With one last smile, she turned around and headed back inside. Peter was still in daze even after she left, grinning like a total idiot.

"I need a camera," he said through his smile. Adelaide looked at him.

"What?" she asked. He turned away, facing Adelaide.

"I don't have a camera," he whispered and Adelaide blinked at him.

"Then why'd you tell her you had a really good one?" she asked, not understanding.

"It's not like I was going to let Flash take the pictures instead! And besides, she came to me first. That's gotta count for something," he said and Adelaide groaned.

"Well what are you going to do now?" Ned asked and Peter sighed, shrugging.

"I don't know. Do you think Ben would buy me a really expensive camera tonight if I ask nicely?" Ned gave him a pointed look and Peter sighed.

"You're right," he mumbled, "What was I thinking? Now she's going to think I'm irresponsible."

Adelaide watched him, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she considered something. A moment later, she sighed, giving in.

"I have a camera that you can use," she said and Peter lit up.

"Really?! Is it the good kind?"

"I think so. I have to ask Ton-Tim. Tim. I have to ask Tim if I can borrow it, but I'm pretty sure he won't mind." Ned gave her a knowing wink and Adelaide shook her head, smiling.

"Thanks, Ada. You're the best," he said. She smiled. Just then, a car honked, pulling them out of their conversation. It was Happy.

"I'll come drop it off later," she said, heading towards the car.

"Wait," Peter said, stopping her. She turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't I come pick it up at your house? You can text me the address," he said and Adelaide frowned.

"Don't worry about it," she said, "I don't mind dropping it off. I'll see you later." Before he could ask any more questions, Adelaide quickly got into the car and shut the door. Peter frowned, slightly confused.

"Why doesn't she want me to come to her house?" he asked Ned, "She's come over a lot of times to mine. Have you ever been to her house?" Ned held his breath, trying to keep the truth from spilling out.

"No," he breathed, "Maybe she just doesn't want us to see her house because it's, um, really small."

"But we've been friends for almost a year," Peter said, "She still doesn't trust us?"

"My mom's here!" Ned blurted, "Gotta go! See you!" Ned quickly ran to his car, getting inside before he accidentally told Peter anything. Once he was inside, he was able to breathe again. Lying was hard and he definitely wasn't very good at it.

* * *

"Just wait out here, I'll be back in a minute," Adelaide told Happy, grabbing Tony's camera and stepping out of the car.

"Make it quick. It's freezing out here," he said. Pulling her coat closer, she closed the car door and followed the path up to the front door. A breeze flew by and Adelaide shivered underneath her coat. She rang the bell and waited. A moment later, she heard Peter shouting.

"I got it!" She heard the locks opening and then Peter swung open the door, a bright grin on his face.

"Come in!" he said, opening the door wider.

"Oh no, I just came to drop –" He pulled her inside and then closed the door behind her.

"I need your help," he said and began heading up stairs. Adelaide stood there for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she realized she should probably follow him.

"Peter?" she heard May call, "Is that Adelaide?"

"Yes May!" he shouted back.

"Tell her to come into the kitchen!"

"She's busy!" Peter shouted back, pushing open the door to his room and Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"What exactly am I busy doing?" she asked.

"I need you to help me pick out something to wear tomorrow," he said. Adelaide frowned, staring at all of the clothes laid out on his bed.

"Pete, it's just a field trip," she said.

"I know, but Liz is gonna be there! I gotta dress nice! How's this sweater?" he said, holding up a blue sweater.

"Seriously, Peter, it's just a field trip," she said, sitting down on the bed. Well, whatever part of the bed that wasn't covered by clothes.

"How's this one?" he asked, holding up a green one.

"Just wear what you always wear," she said and he sighed, sitting down next to her.

"You're right," he said, throwing the sweaters on the bed space behind him. Adelaide watched him carefully.

"Here," she said softly, handing him the camera bag. He glanced at her before he took it from her, opening up the case. His eyes grew wide when he saw the camera.

"Holy crap! Ada, this is  _the best camera in the world_! It costs a fortune!"

"Tim never settles for less," she mumbled.

"Wow! This - This is amazing! Thank you so much!" he said and she smiled.

"You're my friend," she said quietly and he glanced at her as if he wanted to say something before staring at the carpet.

"So are you still not going to tell me what's wrong?" she asked, bumping her shoulder with his. He pushed his glasses up. "C'mon Pete. You can tell me."

He sighed, fidgeting with the chain on the camera case.

"It's just...I don't know. I feel like you're drifting away from me," he said, "You and Ned both." Adelaide felt her face losing its color. He was onto their secret. This was bad. This was really bad.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. Peter glanced at her again.

"Are...Are you and...Ned secretly…dating?" he asked. Adelaide wasn't sure if she'd heard him right.

"I'm sorry, did you say...dating?" He nodded and Adelaide burst out laughing. She was so relieved that that's what he thought they were doing.

"Oh my god, Pete. I can promise you, that there is nothing going on between us. Ned's my friend. I don't think of him that way," she said. Peter felt relief coursing through his body.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," he chuckled and Adelaide laughed, shaking her head. He was so glad that their friendship wasn't going to become awkward.

"I don't get it," Adelaide said, "Why would you think that?"

"No reason,'' he said, slightly embarrassed now. Adelaide shook her head.

"God, Pete. You scared me. I thought there was something seriously wrong," she said. He chuckled.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So we're good now?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're good," he said and she smiled. Suddenly her phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. Happy. He must be freezing in the car.

"I have to go," she said, "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Peter nodded, watching her leave. Sighing, he opened up the camera, looking at it again. He was glad that his best friends weren't dating, but he still couldn't help but feel like there was a growing distance between them. They just didn't spend enough time together. Not like they used to, anyway.

Peter shook his head. He was turning into a girl. Everything was fine. He was just looking too far into it. He pushed his glasses up and began packing for the field trip tomorrow.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said last chapter was the last time Peter was going to push his glasses up? Well, I lied. I'm sorry, but I just can't help it! That little action is so cute for some reason and I love it so much even though it gets on Adelaide's nerves. I think he ends up doing it like 5 times in this chapter so just bear with me because I have no self-control. This will be the last chapter where he does that, I promise. Well, not promise promise.
> 
> Most of this chapter is the scene from the field trip and the whole HYDRA things has been kind of put on hold for now. Well, let's just say Ned's working on it. The chapter is mostly focused on Peter because it's so important to his development, obviously. He's gonna be Spider-Man now. No more superpowerless Peter Parker. I'm gonna miss him, though. I wish he could stay that way forever. Innocent and shielded from the horrors of the superhero world. All that responsibility...
> 
> So I have a question for you guys...I actually saw another author doing this and I thought it was a pretty neat idea so I guess I'm going to start doing this, too. Basically, I'll ask you a question about the chapter or plot or just stuff in general I guess cause I think it'll be kind of fun to see your answers. Depending on the chapter, the question will be either before or after. So here's the one for this chapter:
> 
> If you could have one superpower from any character in the MCU, which character and what superpower would it be? For me, I'd say Scarlet Witch because I love her and I love her powers and I love Elizabeth Olsen; she's so beautiful it hurts.

* * *

" _Everything is going_ _to change, Peter._

_Nothing is ever_ _going_

_to be the same again."_

* * *

_DECEMBER 1, 2015_

The day did not start out as Peter Parker had planned. His alarm didn't ring on time and he realized he only had five minutes to leave the house before he would miss the bus so he had to substitute a shower with just a splash of cold water (thank god he had decided to shower last night). He had been in a such a rush that he had almost left the camera at home and he had to run out of the car and back inside, up the stairs and back outside, all within 15 seconds. Then, he had to rush Ben to go faster (he only went ten over the speed limit) so they would get to school before the bus left for the field trip.

"Bye Uncle Ben!" Peter shouted over his shoulder as he stumbled out of his uncle's car.

"Bye kiddo! Have fun!" Ben shouted after him. He watched his nephew as he ran towards the school bus, almost tripping over the raised sidewalk. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

Peter held onto his backpack as he ran towards the school bus. He was just seconds away when it began moving.

"Wait!" he shouted. That caught Flash's attention who was sitting in the back. He began laughing and everyone in the bus started chanting  _Penis! Parker!_  Peter groaned at his insufferable nickname, trying to catch up to the bus. Suddenly, he saw Ada appear next to Flash and Peter waved at her, signaling to tell her to stop the bus. She gave him a small nod, Flash a quick flick on his head, and disappeared again. Slowly, the bus came to a stop and Peter let out a relieved sigh, jogging up to the entrance.

The doors opened, and he climbed inside, the bus driver giving him a dirty look as he did so.

"Pete!" Adelaide shouted to get his attention, pointing to the seat behind her where Ned was seated. Peter pushed his way through the aisle, almost tripping and falling on his face when the bus driver started the bus again. Somehow, he plopped down next to Ned in one piece. He groaned, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, trying to catch his breath. This day could not be any worse and it was only 8 o'clock in the morning.

"Tough morning?" Adelaide asked, noticing how tired he looked.

"You have no idea," he groaned and Ned patted his shoulder.

"Excited?" she asked. She was in an awkward position where she was turned around in her own seat and sitting on her knees so she could see Ned and Peter who were sitting behind her. Who the hell had decided to make these seats so damn tall? Sitting next to her was Michelle, reading a book, as usual. When Adelaide had greeted her, she only got the usual response which was a slightly annoyed grunt.

"You bet," Peter answered, a smile slowly appearing onto his face.

"Excited? I'm literally bouncing in my seat!" Ned said, which was partly true. It was a very bumpy ride. Soon, they arrived and Mr. Harrington ordered everybody off of the bus in an orderly fashion. They stepped off, taking a moment to stretch their limbs. The ride here wasn't that long, thankfully.

"I want no talking once we're inside and, please, stick to your assigned buddy," Mr. Harrington instructed. Adelaide nudged Michelle.

"Hey, buddy." She just gave her glare in return and Adelaide rolled her eyes. Slowly, they all began walking inside and Mr. Harrington shushed everyone as soon as they stepped foot in the building.

"I can't believe we're finally gonna see the spiders!" Ned whispered to Peter once they had passed Mr. Harrington. Although, it was loud enough for Adelaide to hear, too.

"I can't believe I actually get to miss Algebra for this load of crap," Adelaide whispered back and Mr. Harrington glared at her from across the room. She gave him a sheepish smile and turned around.

"It is  _so_  not a load of crap," Peter whispered back once Mr. Harrington had turned away. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

A few moments later, their tour guide appeared in front of them. She didn't look too excited about the spiders, either. Adelaide immediately liked her. Finally, someone who wasn't overly obsessed with spiders. Why couldn't they have gone to a water park instead? Well, maybe that wouldn't have been the best idea in December…

"Good morning, Midtown High. My name is Una Damon and I will be your tour guide for today. As instructed, please stay with your buddies and do not wander around. Do not touch, smell, or taste anything unless instructed to do so. Any questions?"

Flash raised his hand.

"So can we take one of the spiders home?" he asked and his friends snickered around him. Mr. Harrington glared at him.

"No, you may  _not_  take  _any_  of the spiders home. Any real questions?" the tour guide asked. No one raised their hand.

"Alright, then," she nodded, "Follow me." She turned sharply and then the tour began.

They entered a hallway and exited into a big room that looked like an exhibit. Adelaide glanced around. This was definitely the spider exhibit and an arachnophobes worst nightmare. Good thing she wasn't scared of spiders.

"32,000 species of known spider in the world," the tour guide began, "They're in the order Arachne which is divided…"

"Wow," Peter breathed, taking in the exhibit, "that's amazing. This is the most advanced electron microscope on the eastern seaboard. It's unreal."

"...Arachnids from all three groups possess varying strengths which help them in their constant search for food," the tour guide continued. Peter watched Liz from the corner of his eye as she was saying something to Betty Brant, making her laugh. He smiled to himself. She was so…

"Pete!" Ada whisper-yelled at him when he bumped into her. Peter took a moment to recollect his thoughts again, stepping out of the trance that he'd gone in to.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Liz passed by him and he smiled at her awkwardly, pushing his glasses up his nose.  **(A/N: I couldn't help it!)**  She gave him a polite smile and moved past him so she could hear the tour guide better.

"For example," the tour guide said, "the Delana spider, family Sparassidae, has the ability to jump to catch its prey." They stopped in front of a glass cage, where there was a fuzzy, brown spider crawling a twig. Adelaide wrinkled her nose. So he could jump. So could she. She couldn't understand why it was such a big deal.

Peter raised his camera, glancing at the tour guide lady for permission.

"For the school paper?" he asked.

"Mhmm," she nodded. Peter smiled and then focused the camera on the spider, his finger hovering over the button. Suddenly, someone shoved his shoulder and made him press the button, capturing a blurry picture of the tiled floor. Peter looked over his shoulder to see Flash and his friends snickering. Peter sighed and turned away, following the tour guide to the next spider.

"Next, we have the Net-Web spider," she said, walking up to the display. Family Phyllis Teddidae, Genes Cuckoocannea. It spins an intricate funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high tension wire." Peter raised his camera to take a picture when Flash bumped his shoulder again, making him lose focus. Adelaide noticed the movement from the corner of her eye and she saw Flash's smirk aimed at Peter.

"Leave him alone," she whispered to him with gritted teeth.

"Or what?" Flash said. One of his friends snickered from beside him.

"Or she's gonna come over there and sissy punch you," he said and then they both bursted out laughing, giving each other a high five.

" _What_  is going on?" Mr. Harrington said, appearing next to them, "The next person who talks will fail this course. I kid you not. Let's go." Rolling her eyes, she followed Mr. Harrington to the next spider.

"...This grass spider hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocities so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition."

Adelaide lightly bumped her shoulder with Peter's once they were clear of watchman Harrington.

"Don't listen to Flash," she said, "He has the mental capacity even less than these spiders." Peter smiled.

"Hey," he said, pretending to be offended, "these spiders are pretty smart, you know."

"Oh yeah? I bet they can't do math better than you," she teased and he glanced at her, smiling. He decided to go along with it.

"Well, maybe not, but they can definitely do math better than you," he joked and she faked a gasp which ended in laughter.

"You know, you're probably not that wrong," she said with a small shake of her head. The two of them walked up to Ned who was intently watching a spider in its cage.

"Look at that," Ned breathed, sounded completely awestruck.

"Some spiders change colors to blend into their environment," Peter said, watching the spider, "It's a defense mechanism."

"Peter," Adelaide groaned, "What makes you think I would want to know that." Peter rolled his eyes.

"Who wouldn't?" The three of them followed the tour guide through the exhibit. Michelle had disappeared sometime during the discussion of, well, spiders and Adelaide was willing to bet money that she had found a comfortable corner to read her book in and that's where she was right now. So much for sticking with your buddies. Adelaide turned away from Peter and Ned, looking at a spider cage.

"Over five painstaking years, Columbia's genetic research facility…" Ned silently nudged Peter to get his attention. He jutted his chin towards Liz who was standing in front of them, looking at the spiders.

"Are you gonna talk to her now?" Ned asked him. Peter laughed nervously, feeling his palms beginning to sweat.

"Oh, no, no way," he chuckled. Ned gave him a pointed look.

"You have to do it before…" Suddenly, Flash appeared next to Liz, glancing at her. Ned and Peter shared a look before Peter sighed.

"Disgusting," he heard Liz say.

"Yeah, I hate those little things," Flash mumbled. Liz glanced at him, grinning.

"I love 'em," she said.

"Yeah, me too," he said, trying to come off as cool. Peter took a deep breath.

"I'm gonna go," he whispered to Ned. Ned grinned, giving him a thumbs up. He mouthed 'Good luck' to him as he stepped towards Liz.

"You know," Flash began, "spiders can change their color to blend into their environment."

"Really?" Liz asked cooly.

"Yeah, it's a defense mechanism," he said. Peter felt his smile dropping. Flash had heard him when he had said it to Ned and now he had lost his chance with Liz. Flash looked over his shoulder, smirking at Peter and winking.

"Cool," she said.

"...the RNA to encode an entirely new genome, combining the genetic information from all three spiders into these 15 genetically designed super-spiders."

Adelaide who had been oblivious to the whole situation that had unfolded behind her, was watching the cage carefully (the spiders had become somewhat interesting) when she realized there weren't 15 spiders.

"There's 14," she said, straightening up.

"I beg your pardon?" the tour guide said.

"One's missing," she clarified. The tour guide watched her for a second before stepping closer to see if she was actually right and she, in fact, was.

"Huh," the tour guide said, "I guess the researchers are working on that one." She stepped away from the cage and moved on to the next part of the tour.

"Do you know that this is the largest electron microscope on the eastern seaboard?" Flash asked Liz. Peter felt himself turning his hand into a fist, but he was hopeless. He had missed his window.

Suddenly, Mr. Harrington appeared next to Flash again.

"You were talking throughout that woman's entire presentation," he said angrily, "Let's go talk about how we listen." He grabbed Flash's arm and dragged him away.

Liz chuckled, shaking her head and turning back to face the spiders. Now was his chance. Liz was alone again. Peter glanced at Ned who was still standing behind him. He gave him a thumbs up and then hurried away to catch up with the rest of the class. Peter took in a deep breath. He could do this. It was just Liz. He'd had long conversations with her in his head. Now he just had to do it in person. He swallowed nervously and took a step closer to her.

"H-Hey," he said, getting her attention, "Uh, can I take your picture? You know, for the school paper." She smiled at him.

"Sure," she said, "Yeah."

"Great," he smiled nervously.

"Where do you want me?" she said, moving to the side so that the spiders weren't blocked in the picture. "Over here?"

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered, pushing his glasses up, "Yeah, that's great." He held the camera that was hanging around his neck, raising it.

"Don't make me look ugly," she said with a smile that made Peter's heart flutter in his chest. He swallowed, smiling.

"That's impossible," he said, stepping back to get the whole picture. He held the camera up, looking at Liz through the screen. He couldn't believe this was actually happening! His hands were shaking and he tried to steady them so the picture wouldn't be blurry. Liz held up the clipboard in her hand, pretending to look at the papers with a smile.

"Perfect," he said, taking the picture. Unknown to him and Liz, a red and blue spider crawled down its web that hung from the ceiling, making its way towards oblivious Peter Parker.

"Is that good?" Liz asked, glancing at him. Peter was sure he was red as a tomato at this point, but he didn't care. He was living the best moments of his life.

"Great," he said, snapping another picture. The spider got closer to him, but he was too focused on Liz to notice. He clicked another picture and the spider crawled closer. Then, it landed on Peter's hand.

"Liz! Let's go!" shouted Betty Brant, taking Liz's attention. She hurried away, catching up to her friend and leaving Peter behind. The spider crawled down his hand.

"Wait!" he said, "Thanks!"

The spider dug its beak into the flesh and Peter let out a shout, shaking his hand.

"Ow!" he shouted, noticing a spider crawling away on the carpet. He bent over curiously, holding his hand. The spider was tiny, with a red and blue body. Peter watched it until it disappeared under a cart. Letting out a shaky breath, Peter stood up again, inspecting the hand that was bitten. There were two tiny bite marks on the back of his right hand, just by the thumb. Before he could think about it too much, someone called his name.

"Parker!" Adelaide shouted, getting his attention. The dork had been standing there for who knew how long while the rest of the class had moved on. "Come on!"

He glanced at the spider bite on his hand and then stuffed his hand in his pocket, hoping it would go away before jogging to catch up with the rest of the class.

* * *

"You okay, Pete?" Adelaide asked, noticing how her friend had started to look slightly pale. Ned watched him, worried.

"Dude, you look sick. Maybe you should go to the doctor or something," Ned said.

"There's no...no doctor on the bus," Peter said quietly. He was hunched over in his seat with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Everything was aching and he hated to admit that he felt slightly nauseous and dizzy.

"When you get back home, dufus," Adelaide said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just tired," he excused, feeling his head start to hurt too. There was shooting pain behind his eyes and his vision became blurry. He just had to hang in there a little bit longer…

The bus was soon stopped in front of his house and Peter let out a relieved sigh. Though, even that action made his ribs hurt. He grabbed his backpack which had become surprisingly too heavy and Ned had to help him put it on. Once it was on, he stood up and he almost fell over, seeing spots in his blurry vision. He stumbled off the bus, barely making it to the front door. Everything hurt so bad. He pushed open the door and stumbled inside, almost forgetting to close the door behind himself.

"Oh, hey Peter," May said, noticing her nephew come through the door, "You're just...just in time for...dinner." She watched him carefully; something was off. Peter looked...discoordinated.

"Hey buddy, how was the field trip?" Ben asked, not noticing how strange his nephew was behaving just yet. Peter dropped his backpack on the couch, making his way to the stairs.

"I don't feel well," he said, "I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Oh," May said, confused, "You won't have a bite?"

"No thanks," Peter said, barely pushing himself up the stairs, "Had a bite." He was ready to collapse right here, on the stairs. Although, that probably wouldn't fare well for Ben and May. Ben stood up, going to stand by the stairs to see Peter.

"Did you get some pictures, Pete?"

Peter pushed himself up the last step, disappearing around the corner.

"Uh, I gotta crash. Everything's fine," he said. Ben gave May a worried look.

"What's that all about?" Ben said. Something was definitely not right with their nephew.

Finally in his room, Peter locked the door and stripped away his clothing that was starting to make him feel claustrophobic. He leaned against the table, breathing heavily. His stomach churned as if he was on a roller coaster and his skin was burning. When he opened his eyes, there were two rooms spinning and he shook his head to clear the blurriness. Instead, he got a sharp pain his head and he let out a small gasp. What was wrong with him? Why did everything hurt all of a sudden? The rooms began spinning faster and he leaned away from the table, trying to make his way to his bed.

Suddenly, everything went black and he fell onto the rug at the foot of his bed, dragging his blanket down with him.

* * *

_All three spiders into these...genetically designed super-spiders…._

_Super-spiders...super-spiders…_

_Spiders._

_There were spiders everywhere. They were red and blue. Crawling on his walls, his desk, his bed, him. Peter shook his arm, shaking off the spiders on it. They covered every inch of his room until he couldn't tell where he was anymore._

_Peter looked around frantically. He felt faint, same as he had before...before...where was he?_

_The spiders began getting bigger. They grew larger and larger, merging into one giant red and blue spider that was soon bigger than him. Peter stumbled backwards as its beady eyes bore into his and it snapped its beak together, as if getting ready to eat him alive. Peter's breathing grew heavy and he began to panic._

" _Penis! Parker!" the spider seemed to shout. Peter looked at it from between his hands that were covering his face. Did the spider just…?_

" _Scared, Parker?" the spider said, though its voice sounded an awful lot like Flash's…_

" _Well it's about to get a whole lot scarier," the spider said and Peter watched it, terrified. What was it going to do to him? Suddenly, the spider dissolved into the black void and Peter was at school again. He was standing in the front yard, but there was no one else there. In fact, there was no one else anywhere. It was silent._

_He turned around, immediately regretting it. Ned and Ada were standing in front of him, holding hands._

" _We don't need Peter," Ned said. Ada grinned._

" _Yeah, let's forget about that loser," she said. Peter felt himself gagging and he closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see any more of that._

_Then, someone tapped his shoulder. He opened one of his eyes, looking up. It was Ada and she had a smile on her face._

" _Get up, Pete," she said softly. His eyes never leaving hers, he stood up. They were on a playground and he was somehow sitting on a swing with Ada sitting on the one next to his._

" _What's going on? What's happening to me? Why am I seeing these things?" he asked. She smiled knowingly, beginning to swing slowly._

" _You're mind is playing tricks on you. Nothing is real," she said. He looked at her, confused._

" _What? Why?"_

" _Everything is going to change, Peter. Nothing is ever going to be the same again."_

" _What? What do you mean?" he asked, starting to become frantic._

" _I'm sorry, Pete, " Ada said, looking him in the eyes, "I know you didn't ask for this."_

" _Ask for what?"_

" _Everything will be fine, you'll see."_

" _What? What will be fine?" He felt Ada starting to drift away from him and he had to strain to hear her voice. She began to swing higher._

" _Just believe in yourself, Peter. You're gonna do great things," she said sadly, "Bye, Peter Parker."_

" _Wait!" he shouted after her as she began to swing even higher until she didn't come back down._

* * *

Peter shot open his eyes, breathing heavily. His mind was foggy and there was a dull ache in the back of his head. What was that annoying ticking noise? Wincing, he sat up, looking around. Why was he sleeping on the floor?

His eyes fell on his glasses sitting on his nightstand and he got up with a groan, picking them up. Yawning, he put his glasses on. When he opened his eyes, everything was blurry. He shook his head, confused. He took off his glasses, realizing something. The room suddenly became much clearer. That was weird. He put his glasses back on and everything turned blurry again. Strange. He inspected his glasses, seeing if the lenses were dirty. Oddly enough, they were perfectly clean. He put them back on, but the same thing happened again. Suspiciously, he folded his glasses up and put them into his backpack, just in case.

"Weird," he mumbled. Just as he was about to turn away, he caught his reflection in the mirror. Were those...biceps? He flexed his muscles, poking them with his finger. They were real. Unbelievable. He poked his chest and his abdomen. A six-pack! No way! Was he...did he...had he been working out lately?

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Peter?" May said.

"Yeah?" he said back, his eyes never leaving his reflection.

"Are you okay in there?" she asked. Peter glanced at his abs again. Was he alright? Was he dreaming? He poked his six-pack again. No, that was  _definitely_  real.

"Uh, I'm fine," he answered, surprising himself. There was certainly nothing wrong with him. Sure he had biceps and a six-pack and his glasses made things blurrier, but he felt fine. In fact, he felt better than fine. Much, much better. He flexed his biceps again.

"Are you feeling any better this morning? Any change?" May asked.

"Change?" Peter asked, his eyes traveling down to his six-pack. How sure was he that this was real? He grinned to himself.

"Yeah, big change," he said.

"Well hurry up!" May said through the door, "You're gonna be late!"

Late? Late. He had school. He was going to be late for school.

"Right," he said, hurrying to grab his clothes. He glanced in the mirror one last time before heading out.

"Let's do this," he mumbled to himself, still not believing what was happening.

"Peter!" May shouted again.

"Coming!" he shouted back, pulling his shirt on over his head and stumbling out of his room, grabbing the backpack that had appeared in front of his door. He rushed down the stairs, eager to get to school. He jumped the last few steps, landing on the floor without tripping.

"Jeez," Ben said, noticing how bouncy his nephew was behaving this morning, "I thought you were sick."

Peter grinned knowingly.

"I got better," he said with a shrug, turning away, "I better get going if I'm going to catch the bus. Bye guys!"

"But you haven't eaten anything!" May shouted after him, "Do you have your lunch money?"

"Yeah, I got it!" he said, opening the front door.

"Hey Michelangelo! Don't forget we're painting the kitchen right after school," Ben reminded him.

"Sure thing, Uncle Ben," Peter said, grinning, "Don't start without me."

"Don't start up with me," Ben replied with a smile of his own. Peter grinned over his shoulder one last time before heading out the door, jogging so he wouldn't miss the bus again. He couldn't wait to get to school today.

"Teenagers," Ben told May after Peter had left, "Raging hormones, they never change."


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A refresher on what happened last time we were here. So they all went to the spider exhibit and Peter got bitten by a radioactive spider but just shrugged it off like it was no biggie because, let's face it, we all get bitten by radioactive spiders all the time. And the best thing to do is to not tell anyone. Not even if you feel sick to your stomach and pass out on the floor in your room while shaking in cold sweat. Seriously, no biggie. Then Peter wakes up and BAM he's spIDER-MAN. Wish that could happen to me. *slides Marvel a $20*
> 
> This chapter is mainly focused on the HYDRA and Adie thing. We do get a little bit of Graves because he's getting HELLA impatient. Being a high school coach just isn't his forté, let's be honest. And there's some Flash and Peter acting HELLA arrogant and getting in trouble for it. This chapter picks up right where the last one left off.
> 
> I just wanna point out that since Peter is Spider-Man now, a lot of things are going to start happening at once and things might feel rushed, but I promise everything is according to plan which is what I have scribbled on the back of a gum wrapped somewhere in my backpack. Lmao, just kidding. I've got it planned out better than that. Well, somewhat.

* * *

_"We torture people in the dungeon downstairs._

_And we make a secret language_

_that no one else knows about._

_Oh and Steve won't admit it, but I found_

_knitting needles in his room once."_

* * *

"Yo, Adelaide! Where's Penis Parker?" Flash shouted from across the gym. Adelaide rolled her eyes at the childish nickname, and he gave her a cocky smile in return.

"Did the itsy bitsy spiders scare him away?" Flash retorted and he and his friends bursted out in laughter while Adelaide rolled her eyes again at his terrible taunts. Did he actually think he was funny? Although, neither Flash nor Adelaide knew the true extent of the effect that the "itsy bitsy spider" had on Peter Parker.

Flash turned away, still chuckling to himself. He began dribbling the ball in his hand and passing it to his friends.

"Hey Flash!" Adelaide shouted a moment later. He turned around, raising his eyebrow. Did Adelaide actually call for him?

"There's a spider on your back!" she shouted and bit her lip as she watched his eyes grow wide in fear. He began jumping around, shaking his shirt. Adelaide laughed to herself, shaking her head and turning away from the show.

Flash had been somewhat right. Peter wasn't here today and he wouldn't even answer her texts or calls. Yesterday, as they were going home, he looked pretty pale and sickly. Adelaide wondered if he was just sick. He could have at least called of left a message. Here she was, losing her mind wondering what it must have been that caused Peter Parker to  _not_  come to school. When she had asked Ned, he said he had no idea either.

_**Tony:** _ _Just a heads up, I'm won't be_ _around this weekend._

_Thank goodness._

_**Tony:** _ _You can at least try to miss me._

_Are you going to France again?_ ' _Good croissants' are a stupid_ _reason to fly to France._

_**Tony:** _ _I'm going uptown, to the compound._ _And for the record, those croissants are a perfectly_ _good reason to go to France._

_Why are you going to the compound?_ _Didn't you just go a few weeks ago?_

_**Tony:** _ _I just have to pick up some work down there._

_Can I come?_ _I haven't seen the team in a while._

_**Tony:**_   _Fine. But don't go DJ on me. It's my car._

_Whatever, old man._

_**Tony:** _ _My songs are not old._

_You literally have two songs from this decade._

_**Tony:**_   _Yeah, well the music from this decade sucks._

_I'm going to ignore that._ _Does Pepper know you're going?_

_**Tony:** _ _I filled her in this morning._

_Can you tell her I'm coming with?_

_**Tony:** _ _Tell her yourself._

_It's called doing a favor._

_**Tony:**_   _Fine. But I get your croissant._

_I thought we were just going upstate?_

_**Tony:** _ _A little detour never hurt anyone ;)._

Shaking her head, Adelaide put her phone away into her backpack. She couldn't wait to visit the compound this weekend. She hadn't seen everybody in so long. It was safe to say she missed them a little bit. Even Wanda. And Vision, though she didn't know him very well. She reckoned he was like JARVIS and she definitely missed him. Adelaide wondered how Nat had been holding up this whole time. Knowing her, she probably had the whole Bruce thing behind her. If not, she was going to avoid it until she had to confront it. And Steve. She definitely missed his corny jokes.

Sighing with a smile on her face, she looked down at the floor. She realized one of the shoelaces were untied and she bent over to tie it again. Just as she was tightening the knot, a pair of shoes appeared in front of her. Those looked familiar. She looked up, blue eyes looking into warm brown ones.

"Hi," he said. Peter grinned down at her, slightly out of breath from running to school since he had missed the bus. Even though he only lived a few blocks away, running that length usually wore him out to the point that he felt as if he was going to pass out. Today, he was just slightly out of breath. Which was definitely  _very_  weird, but he didn't mind at all. In fact, he loved it.

"You look different," Adelaide said, standing up so she was somewhat at his eye level. Did he...grow taller? Adelaide stepped up onto the next bleacher so she could be taller. She wasn't used to being shorter than him.

"I'm doing good, thanks for asking," Peter retorted sarcastically. Adelaide didn't even hear him.

"Seriously, what is it? You look really different," she said, almost talking to herself. Peter cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

"Good different?" he asked.

"Did you get a new haircut?" she asked, tugging at his hair and messing it up. He frowned, shaking it back into place.

"No," he mumbled, slightly annoyed. Her eyes traveled down to his t-shirt.

"New shirt?" she asked, clutching the fabric in her hand and leaning down to smell it. Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Definitely not," she said, pulling away, "Do you know how to use a washing machine?"

"I just forgot to take this shirt out of my locker last week and it's the only one I have," Peter grumbled, sniffing his shoulder. He really did stink; he'd have to remember to take this shirt home today. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"This is your shirt?" she asked, "it's a little tight on you, Pete." Peter cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I...I like tight shirts," he said, internally cringing at his lie. If that wasn't convincing, she'd know something was up. If she believed it, she'd probably think he was weird. Her face told him it was the latter.

"O...kay…" she said slowly, watching him strangely. Her eyes suddenly grew wide.

"Your glasses!" she gasped, "You're not wearing any glasses!" His hand instinctively flew up to push his glasses up his nose. It felt weird not wearing glasses.

"Did you get contacts?" Adelaide asked him, leaning close to see if he was wearing contacts.

"Y-Yeah," he muttered, uncomfortable under her piercing blue gaze. She frowned.

"I don't see any," she said and Peter leaned away, feeling like he was being interrogated by the FBI. "And I don't think that's it. It's something else…"

"There's nothing, Ada," he started, trying to steer the conversation away from him, "You're just overreac –"

Adelaide suddenly gasped, grabbing his arm.

"Biceps!" she said, almost shouting, "Peter Benjamin Parker, when the hell did you get biceps?! Did you just grow them overnight or something?"

He chuckled to himself. She had actually guessed right, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Peter had a feeling that he should keep this spider-bite thing to himself for a while. At least, until he figured out what was happening with him. It had been a very strange run to school this morning, if he was being honest with himself. For one, his legs didn't get tired at all – he felt like he could run all day. And even stranger, it was as if he could hear and sense  _everything_. Running down the street, he could hear the hotdogs from the hotdog stand sizzling and the sound of rocks crunching underneath people's boots and the sound of someone's watch ticking or even the ladybug crawling on the side of the building. He knew some people could hear better than others, but what kind of person could hear things like that? Especially on the loud streets of New York. He still had a leftover headache from all the noise.

"Earth to Peter," Adelaide said, waving her hand in front of his face. She suddenly noticed the color of his eyes. She had always known they were brown, but she could never really see them behind his glasses. Right now, they looked like a shade of melting chocolate being mixed into coffee.

"Uh...I've been working out," Peter lied, snapping Adelaide out of her thoughts. The most workout he had done was throwing a ball against his wall and catching it – and that was while he was laying in bed. He was surprised that he hadn't gained more weight over the years.

Adelaide suddenly laughed, making him blink in confusion.

"I didn't know you could do that," she teased and he frowned.

"Shut up," he muttered, stepping to the side so that he could sit next to her. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck began tingling and in a blink, Peter whipped around and caught the basketball that was coming straight for Adelaide's head. He hadn't realized that he actually caught it until he looked down in his hands. Did...Did  _he_  do that?

He caught Adelaide's wide-eyed blue gaze. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. That was inhumanely fast. Even her reflexes weren't that fast and she had tested them herself. Peter watched her carefully, waiting for her to say something, anything. Adelaide blinked, shaking her head clear.

"Hey Parker!" yelled Flash, "Quit hogging the basketball!"

Slowly, Peter turned around, his back to Adelaide and his mouth set into a thin line.

"Watch where you throw it next time," he growled quietly. Peter had no idea where this sudden confidence was coming from, but he was enjoying it.

"I can throw it wherever I fucking want," Flash said, his voice spiked with anger. He didn't like it when people talked back to him or told him what to do. Especially not when it was Penis Parker. Peter's jaw tightened.

"So can I," Peter said and then he threw the ball back at lightning speed, hitting him in the chest so hard that he stumbled back a few steps, almost losing his balance. Flash glared at him, his face turning red.

"You better watch your back, Parker," Flash said, looking suspicious. Peter rolled his eyes.

"Watch yours first," he said and then turned away, back to Adelaide who felt  _very_  confused.

"How...How did you do that?" she asked him.

"Do what? I just caught the ball," Peter said, trying to play it off as nothing.

"No, what you did was something... _weird_ ," she said, struggling to put it into words.

"I just caught the ball, Ada. Same as you would have," he said simply.

"But –"

"You made it!" came Ned's voice who was finally back from the bathroom, "What took you so long?"

"I missed the bus," Peter said, relieved for the distraction. He grinned at his friend.

"Wait a second…" Ned suddenly said, furrowing his eyebrows, "No way! You have muscles!" He grabbed Peter's arm and then dropped it just to punch it. "And they're real, too! Awesome, dude!"

They began doing a weird handshake while Adelaide was still sitting in between the two of them and she rolled her eyes, leaning back so she wouldn't get hit.

"Everybody get down here!" Coach Graves shouted, blowing his whistle. Adelaide held back a groan. She couldn't wait for the day she would never have to see him again. Just looking at him made her head hurt.

They all stood up and began making their way down the bleachers. Once a fresh headache started to make a debut behind her eyes, Adelaide had completely forgotten about the strange thing that Peter had done. She told herself that she was probably just overthinking the whole situation.

* * *

Hardly anyone was ever in the alley behind school.

Only the smokers and druggies went back there. Sometimes, they'd get caught, but most of the time they got away unscathed. The alley itself reeked of cigarettes and pot and maybe even a little sewage. The druggies usually didn't mind, but the rotten smell made Graves even angrier as he stood there. It was disgusting in here and he had seen his fair share of disgusting. The smell made him want to light a cigarette from his pocket, but he knew that if he went back into the building, smelling like a carton of Marlboro Red, he'd lose his position as head coach. Then Lukov would kill him and then he'd never be able to smoke again.

Feeling the urge to break something, Graves dialed Lukov from his phone. One of these days, Lukov was going to regret treating him like trash. He just had to wait for his time.

" _Make it quick,"_  Lukov growled, clearly not in a good mood.

"How much longer?" he asked, getting straight to the point. He heard Lukov clear his throat. Graves could hear people talking in the back and then the sound of a door closing. An engine started up.

" _Kakiye?"_

"How much longer do I have sit in this hellhole?" Graves growled. His voice was hard as ice. He was sick of pretending to be a high school teacher. It was degrading and embarrassing. He was so much more than that.

" _Until I fucking say so."_

"I'm fed up with this shit. Nothing's happening. Rivers isn't get any closer to the mission. I say we just do it now. Everything's already in place."

" _You will not do anything until I command you to. I will tell you when it is the right time and until then, just do your damn job. I am not paying you a 100 grand for this load of bullshit. I can just as easily find someone else to do the job."_

Graves laughed, creating a small echo in the alley.

"Face it, Lukov. No one knows her better than me, not even you."

" _That is debatable,"_ Lukov said, not bothered by the remark, " _Just a few more months, Graves. Good things come to those who wait."_

"When the hell did you start reading poetry?"

" _I interest myself in a book every now and then,"_ the Russian remarked, " _Would you be satisfied if I raised it to 200 grand?"_

"Would you?"

" _I'm asking you."_

"I would."

" _Then do better,"_ Lukov said, promptly ending the call right afterwards. Graves laughed to himself, not one bit amused.

"Lukov, you son of a bitch," he muttered to himself, slipping his phone into his pocket.

The ringing bell indicated that lunch break was over and Graves quietly groaned to himself. It was almost laughable to see how far he had dropped. He was a fucking high school coach – for a man like Graves, it didn't get more embarrassing than that.

Just as he was about to turn the corner, a couple of kids who were barely tall enough to be call high schoolers walked into the alley. Upon noticing the man with the eyepatch, they both froze, the pot still in their hands. Graves smirked, walking towards them. The two took back a step in fear of getting caught.

Instead, Graves grabbed the pot from their hands and went on his way. He was going to need more of that if he was getting through this without killing anybody else.

* * *

"It's pronounced  _Nu_ -tella," Adelaide argued.

Peter was already shaking his head.

"No, it's  _Nut_ -tella.  _Nut_ -tella," he said. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"It literally says  _Nu_ -tella on their website," she said, slightly annoyed. She stabbed her fork into the lettuce a little harder than she should've.

"How do you pronounce it, Ned?" Peter asked, turning to their friend who was dutifully avoiding the conversation entirely. He didn't want to get caught up in their argument. Adelaide and Peter both watched him expectantly.

"I...I don't know what that is," he lied. The other two seemed to buy it. "I've never had Nutella in my life."

"Ah-hah!" Adelaide suddenly said pointing at him, "He said  _Nu_ -tella!"

"Shoot," Ned muttered under his breath and Peter rolled his eyes.

"You both are wrong," he said. Adelaide smirked.

"You're all losers," Michelle suddenly said without looking up from her book. They weren't surprised. She was always a part of their crazy conversations even if she didn't say anything — she was always listening.

"You just hate to admit that I'm right," Adelaide told Peter, ignoraning Michelle's insult. Peter's expression indicated that she was right and she chuckled, poking her fork at her lettuce with much less anger than before.

"So I heard there's Star Wars special marathon on tonight," Ned said, changing the subject quickly, "We can all have a sleepover and watch it."

"I'm down," Adelaide said, chewing her salad, "As long as I don't have to watch it with you guys."

"Come on!" Ned protested, "Just give it a chance."

"No, thank you. I'd rather watch Tom Cruise break a drug deal or something," she replied and Ned rolled his eyes, looking disappointed. Ned turned to Peter, who had been quiet this whole time.

"Tell her how cool Star Wars is," Ned said, "We have to watch the marathon today."

"Losers," Michelle said again and everyone ignored her again.

"Actually," Peter started, "I don't think I'll be able to watch it today."

Ned was appalled.

"What?! Peter, you did hear me correctly, right? I said Star Wars marathon.  _Star Wars_ ," he said annunciating it.

"Yes, I heard you, but I really can't make it. You and Ada can watch it," he said. Adelaide narrowed her eyes at him. Was Peter Parker actually turning down a  _Star Wars marathon_? He loved Star Wars. A little more than a normal person, in her opinion. Something was definitely up.

"But why not?" Ned asked.

"I've got...Chemistry homework. Loads of it." Adelaide raised a scrutinizing eyebrow.

"Peter, I have Chemistry with you. Mr. Danson hasn't assigned homework for weeks now."

Peter looked as if he had just remembered that and Adelaide watched him carefully. Did he not want to hang out with her and Ned or something?

"Did I say Chemistry?" he said, chuckling lightly, "Sorry, I meant, uh...Algebra. Yeah, lots of Algebra. But you two can have fun, I'm okay with it. Don't let me hold you back."

Adelaide narrowed her eyes, wondering why he didn't want to come. They were almost at Christmas break. None of the teachers gave too much homework. Sure, there were people like Mr. Hans who just loved giving homework, but it was the holidays. Peter was just making an excuse not to come. She searched her brain, wondering what it could be.

"But it won't be as fun without you," Ned said. Peter shrugged.

"Hey, you two can have fun without me," he said.

"Are you sure, Pete?" Adelaide asked him. Peter tried to fight back a smile. This afternoon, he was going to find out more about what was going on with him and he had a feeling he wasn't going to be disappointed. He wouldn't be able to rest until he found out more so Star Wars could wait.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he answered, grabbing his juice box, "You guys have fun. I'll be fine."

"Fine," Ned muttered, not entirely convinced.

Peter lifted his juice box to his lips, taking a sip. When he went to put it down, he found that the box was stuck to the palm of his hand. He quietly groaned. This had been happening to him all morning; things kept sticking to his hands and it would almost be impossible to shake them off. That was...normal, right? Peter picked at the edges, trying to pull it off, but it was on tight. He sighed. There was only one way to get it off now. He shook his hand, trying to shake the juice box off.

Suddenly, when he was least expecting it, the juice box flew out of his hand and over to the next table where it landed on Flash Thompson's head. Peter's eyes grew wide.

 _Uh-oh_ …

Adelaide watched the scene unfold with big eyes and her mouth slightly open. Did Peter just…?

Flash froze. The entire cafeteria fell silent.

Slowly, Flash turned around. He looked  _angry_. His eyes scanned the room and until they landed on Peter who seemed to be in some kind of shock. Had he just…?

" _What the hell_ , Parker?" Flash growled angrily. Peter struggled to find words, still in a state of shock.

"Say sorry, say sorry, just say it already," Ned whispered under his breath. Peter suddenly grew annoyed. Why did Flash always have to treat him like he was under him or something? Why did he always have to apologize? He was smarter than Flash. And, since this morning apparently, probably stronger too.

"Orange juice," Peter answered. Adelaide thought she was hearing things. Had Peter actually lost it or had she?

"You think you're so smart, don't you? You little smartass," Flash growled, walking towards him. The entire cafeteria was watching. Where do all the teachers disappear to when there's a fight?

"Can't say the same for you," Peter said, standing up. What had gotten into him? Whatever it was, Peter was definitely enjoying it. Adelaide, on the other hand, was already looking for a nurse.

" _Peter_ ," Adelaide warned under her breath but either he was ignoring her or he didn't hear. Either way, he was so screwed. Once Flash was close enough, Adelaide realized that Peter looked a couple inches taller than Flash. Huh. Hadn't he always been a couple inches shorter?

"Come on," Flash said, getting into position to fight. Peter felt slightly excited. He was confident that he could beat Flash this time and humiliate  _him_  for a change. Adelaide, on the other hand, had thought that Peter Parker had truly and completely lost his freaking mind. He had slipped away. There was no way to stop this now. She was going to have to watch him get beat up. Peter had dug his own grave.

Ned caught her eye across the table and Adelaide just shook her head, disappointed. What had brought this out of him? Peter wasn't normally like this — he wasn't being himself. But why?

They began fighting. A crowd had already formed around the two teenagers and people began cheering. Seriously, where were all of the teachers? Adelaide watched anxiously, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Flash swung his fist at Peter's nose and he dodged it easily. Adelaide winced and grabbed Ned's shoulder.

"You think he's gonna be fine?" she asked. He shrugged.

"He's never gotten out of a fight and actually won before," Ned said. Adelaide let out a breath.

Peter glanced at her and then her hand on Ned's shoulder. She glanced down at her hand. Everything came crashing to an understanding. Flash took another swing at Peter who just barely avoided it, having been distracted by his friends.

Adelaide realized that he was acting out like this because was still hung over the idea that she was secretly dating Ned behind his back which was far from the truth. It was the only thing that made sense. Of course, she couldn't tell him that the reason they couldn't tell him what they were doing was because they were hacking in HYDRA's database to find information on her parents, former SHIELD agents. That conversation wouldn't go so well.

She groaned to herself. But what Adelaide couldn't understand was why he was still hung over it even after she had clearly explained to him that there was nothing. Maybe he just didn't believe her. Adelaide just wasn't ready to tell him the whole truth yet. Sure, they were good friends, but what if he didn't want to continue to be her friend after he found out about how weird her life was? How weird she was?

The crowd cheered louder as Flash took a swing at Peter.

"Help him, Adelaide," Ned urged. Adelaide watched the fight, her eyes bouncing side to side as they both took swings at each other.

"Which one?" she asked.

Adelaide wanted to stop the fight, but she had a feeling it wouldn't work. They were clearly very angry at each other.

Suddenly, Peter pulled his fist back and then punched Flash Thompson in the face, feeling immensely satisfied. Flash stumbled back, his hands flying up to cover his face. Peter had punched him in the jaw and Flash could already feel a bruise coming. He glared at Peter who was proudly smirking.

Adelaide found herself feeling slightly angry. This wasn't Peter. Not the one she knew. Peter noticed the look on her face and frowned. She should be happy for him. He had just won.

"Hey! Hey, move it kid!" Graves said, pushing aside a kid in his way. He made his way to the center of the crowd, looking at Adelaide. She stared back without an expression until he looked away. He analyzed the situation in front of him and, after putting two and two together, he realized that it was just a fight. Graves groaned internally. He hadn't had enough cigarettes today for this shit. Why couldn't this lanky kids just keep their hands off of each other?

"Who started this mess?" Graves sighed, running his hand over his buzz cut. He definitely wasn't getting paid enough for this.

"He did," Flash and Peter both said at the same time. Graves eyes the bruise forming on the shorter kid's face and the knuckles of the taller one. At least he could have tried to hide his hand. He rolled his eyes.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Peter," he answered.

"Come with me, kid," Graves said and then pushed his way out of the crowd, not-so-accidentally stepping on some toes. Stupid teenagers. Can't even sit still for a damn lunch. Next time he called Lukov, he was asking for a pay raise. He needed more alcohol to deal with this shit everyday.

The crowd was still formed around the two boys and while Flash was putting ice on his bruise and glaring at Peter, Peter looked at Adelaide. He wanted her to be happy for him. Why did it bother him so much?

"Ada —"

She just shook her head disappointedly and turned around and left the cafeteria, leaving Peter feeling terrible about his win.

* * *

Adelaide felt terrible.

Peter was her best friend. She should just tell him the truth. She sighed, chewing the inside of her cheek. Maybe she should try to tell him again that she wasn't secretly dating Ned behind his back. She sighed again, frustratedly running her hands through her hair. She pulled it back into a ponytail with a hair tie on her wrist to get it out of her face. If he didn't believe her the first time, what were the chances he'd believe her when she told him the same thing again? But how else could she convince him?

Maybe there was a way. Maybe she could convince him by making more plans to hang out, all three of them. Adelaide considered it. That actually wasn't such a terrible idea. Once they would hang out together enough, Peter would realize that she didn't treat Ned any differently than she treated him. Now all she had to do was convince him to hang out…

"What's the pickle, kid?" Tony asked, his eyes still on the road.

"It's 2015, and you need to find some better slang," she said, turning in her seat to face him.

"Spill the beans," he said, side-smirking at her.

"I don't have any," she said, reaching for the music button. He smacked her hand away.

"You promised you wouldn't boss my music system around," he said, "I don't think I am physically capable of hearing another Katy Petty song."

"It's Perry," Adelaide replied, rolling her eyes, "And you promised me a croissant from France but here we are."

"No, if I remember correctly, which I do, I promised  _I'd_  eat  _your_  croissant from France. Pay attention," he said, tapping her forehead. She pulled away, reaching for the music button again and Tony didn't stop her this time. She played some 80's throwback music which mostly consisted of Duran Duran and Oingo Boingo, approved artists by Tony, of course. She even threw in some AC/DC per Tony's request, obviously.

The sun was starting to set by the time they made it to the compound and it was much quieter now, especially during the wintertime. At the moment, there were probably very few SHIELD agents and mostly the Avengers living there.

They got out of the car, closing the doors behind themselves. Today, Tony had picked the Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita out of his garage, maybe just to show off the ridiculous amount of money that he spends on cars. Sometimes, Adelaide forgot how rich Tony really was. Or that, to the rest of the world, he was genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark. To her, he was just annoying Tony. And even though they were constantly bantering, Adelaide liked what she had with Tony. In her mind, he wasn't too far from a fatherly figure in her life. Though she'd never say it out loud, of course. What if he didn't feel the same way?

"Ready, kiddo?" he said, twisting the car keys around in his hand. She nodded.

"Yeah, let's go," she said, grabbing her duffel bag of clothes that she had packed for the weekend. Tony pressed a button on his car keys and the car began rolling itself into the garage as they made their way inside the compound through the big glass doors, walking into the lobby.

Instantly they were greeted by Rhodey who pulled them both into a big group hug. He had apparently been waiting in the lobby.

"Missed you, too buddy but not...this...much," Tony said, his voice sounding slightly strangled. Rhodey chuckled, pulling away.

"I didn't know you were coming, Adelaide," he said, smiling down at her warmly. She grinned, shrugging.

"It was last minute," she said.

"Well, I'm glad you came," he said.

"Yeah we need some immaturity around here," Tony said, looking around the room. Adelaide picked up her duffel bag off the floor.

"I think you have enough of that for everyone," she teased. He looked at her, offended.

"I can be mature," he argued. Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Name one time."

"Well, there was that one time I  _maturely_  made an ice cream sundae for you and Pepper without using the whip cream to look like Santa," he pointed out. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"You used the ice cream spoons to make walrus tusks from your mouth," she said.

"Oh yeah," he said, remembering. He began laughing, shaking his head. "You have to admit, that was pretty funny."

Rhodey chuckled, shaking his head.

"You guys are really something else," he said, "Come on, I'll take you to the others. We just finished our training for the day."

They followed Rhodey down the halls, still bickering over absolutely nothing important. Adelaide was enjoying it.

This was the most at ease that she had felt in a long time and she never wanted to leave.

They walked into a big lounge with a small kitchen tucked away in the corner and a huge tv hooked up on the wall surrounded by expensive white leather couches and accompanied with a lavish yet simple blood red rug on the hardwood floor. Along the other side of the same wall were wall-sized windows which were covered at the moment since it was already dark outside.

Steve was by the pool table with Sam on the side of the room while Natasha was in the kitchen, making a pot of coffee or a margarita. Probably both.

"Hey guys, look who decided to come!" Rhodey announced, making all three of them turn around. Steve smiled, putting down his pool table stick and walked towards them.

"Stark," he addressed.

"Captain," Tony replied with a slight nod, "I see you still suck at pool."

Steve chuckled, shaking his head.

"You and I. Tomorrow. Winner gets to gloat his butt off," Steve said and Tony shook his hand, sealing the deal. Adelaide rolled her eyes. And everyone thought she was the immature one.

"I didn't know you were coming, Adelaide," Steve said.

"Is Tony kicking you out of the Tower?" Natasha asked, walking up to them with a margarita in her hand.

"You wish," Adelaide replied, a smile on her face. Natasha smirked.

"What did you come up here for?" Steve asked, heading into the kitchen to grab a margarita for himself. He returned with an extra one and handed it to Tony.

"Just some paperwork that I left here from last time. Pepper said she needed it for the company's next board meeting or something," Tony said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I'm gonna hit the hay, you guys," Rhodey said, making all of them turn around, "Gotta meet up with the general tomorrow at the crack of dawn."

"Okay, old man," Tony said, patting his back. Rhodey didn't even acknowledge the insult and headed to his room. Either he was used to it, or he was really tired.

"You're here for the whole weekend?" Natasha asked, leading them all the couch where they sat down. Adelaide noticed Sam filling his own glass or margarita in the kitchen. She knew she wasn't 21, but she wanted some too.

"Until tomorrow afternoon," Adelaide answered, "I've got school the next day."

"Right," Natasha smirked, "I forgot you're still 13."

Adelaide frowned.

"14."

"Like it makes a difference," she said and Adelaide shook her head, though there was a small smile on her face. Natasha seemed to be doing alright. Her insults definitely hadn't taken a hit.

"So what's new with you guys?" Adelaide asked, subtly eyeing Tony's margarita. Pepper would disapprove.

"We haven't had any more AIs try to wipe the human population so I'd say it's been pretty good around here," Steve said. Adelaide smirked.

"The rookies are getting better, which is always good," Natasha said, leaning back into her seat.

"We've got a pretty great team," Sam agreed, nodding.

"Speaking of," Tony said, "Where's that witch girl? And Vision?"

"They're out training still. The two train at night and then they're out during the day. Well, Wanda is. Vision doesn't sleep. Or use doors," Steve answered with a slight shake of his head. Adelaide hadn't met Wanda in a while. In fact, the last time she had seen her was when the compound had just finished being built.

"What do you do for fun around here?" Adelaide asked, eyeing the tv.

"We torture people in the dungeon downstairs. And we make a secret language that no one else knows about. Oh and Steve won't admit it, but I found knitting needles in his room once," Natasha said, side-smirking at Steve. Steve tossed his hands up in the air in defeat.

"For the last time, I don't have knitting needles," he groaned playfully.

"I'm worried that this a 'Two Truths, One Lie' game," Tony said, "I'm gonna say the secret language was the lie."

So the night went on just like that, with a little light bantering and teasing until it was very late in the night and very early in the morning. Adelaide was given a guest room upstairs where she crashed for the night, her head slightly spinning from the few sips of margarita that she had from Tony's glass when he wasn't looking.

She hadn't slept so peacefully in ages.

* * *

The next day began with a mixture of confusion and panic until she remembered where she was.

Adelaide groaned, rubbing her face. She looked around the room for a clock and found a digital one on the other side of the wall.

_12:05_

Had it really been that long since she'd fallen asleep? It actually felt like 2 minutes. Groaning, she got out of the bed, heading towards the bathroom. Somehow, her duffel bag had appeared in her room and she took out a new pair of clothes, taking them with her.

After cleaning herself up, Adelaide stepped out of the bathroom. Grabbing her phone off the nightstand, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. She realized she hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before and she was starving. Adelaide wondered if the kitchen here had Cheerios. Padding into the kitchen, she began searching the cabinets for a box of Cheerios.

"I don't even get a hello?" said a voice. Adelaide jumped at the sound, turning towards the voice. It was none other than Wanda Maximoff, sitting on the kitchen island. Adelaide laughed, shaking her head and closing the cabinet.

"I didn't see you sitting there," she said, a huge grin on her face.

"I've gotten better at staying hidden. Natasha's taught me," she said, a smile growing on her face.

"Well," Adelaide said, leaning against the island countertop across from the witch, "no one's better than me at staying hidden."

"We'll see," she said, smirking.

"How's training going?" Adelaide asked, stepping back and pulling out orange juice from the fridge. She'd have to make do with that for now.

"As good as training a witch can go," she said and Adelaide smirked.

"I'm not surprised." Wanda said smiled.

"So what have you been up to? Besides school. How is that going, by the way?"

"Как ад."  _(Like hell.)_

"Any side projects?" Wanda asked, pouring some orange juice into a tall glass for herself.

"No," Adelaide lied, sipping her juice innocently, "Not really."

Wanda watched the teenager with a smile on her face as she put the cap back onto the juice bottle.

"You know better than to lie to me, Adelaide," Wanda said. Adelaide looked at her and then looked away quickly.

"It's nothing," she said, standing up with her glass in hand.

"I can keep a secret pretty well," Wanda said, eyeing the teenager. Adelaide rolled her eyes. She wanted to get off of this topic.

"Good for you. I'm still not telling," she said stubbornly.

Suddenly, her phone rang, interrupting the conversation. It was Ned. Her heart began racing. She hadn't talked to him about the files since Friday when he told her that he was nowhere. Had he decrypted the files? She glanced at Wanda who was pretending that she hadn't heard the phone ringing and then Adelaide decided to take the call in her room, just to be safe. She left her juice on the countertop and ran upstairs.

"Hello?" she said, closing the door behind herself, slightly out of breath.

" _Hey Adelaide, listen —"_

"Did you decrypt the files?" she asked urgently.

" _Um, no,"_  he said and she deflated, " _I actually have some bad news."_

Adelaide closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead. This was proving to test her patience with HYDRA. Not that she had much to begin with anyway. She leaned her head against the door.

"What is it?" she sighed.

" _I made another attempt and it failed...so now we only have one left,"_ he said. Adelaide slid down the door, putting her head into her hands. She rubbed her face, trying not to groan. This wasn't Ned's fault. It was HYDRA's.

"What do we do now?" she asked quietly after a while.

" _We still get one more shot,"_ Ned said encouragingly.

"But what happens if that fails to? HYDRA will get an alert. Ned, our plan isn't safe or foolproof. We don't even  _have_  a plan."

" _You want to find out what happened to your parents, right?"_

"I don't want anyone to die for that. We can find another way," she argued, suddenly feeling very tired, despite having gotten enough sleep.

" _Adelaide—"_

"Please, Ned," she cut him off. He was silent for a moment and Adelaide waited for his answer, staring at the clock ticking on the wall.

" _If that's what you really want,"_  Ned said finally. Adelaide let out a breath, closing her eyes.

"Thank you," she said and ended the call, dropping the phone into her lap.

For a minute, she simply sat there, staring at the rug and feeling absolutely hopeless. There was nothing she could do. If HYDRA was too dangerous, how else was she going to find out what happened to her parents? What happened to her? What if she never found out?

What was she supposed to do now?

She sighed frustratedly and pushed herself off the floor. She began pacing the room unconsciously, running her hands through her hair over and over. The memory of her parents began flashing in her mind again. Someone had killed them in front of her young eyes. They needed her to avenge them. They wanted to protect her from  _him_. What did all of it mean? Who was that man and what did he want? Where had she been for 13 years of her life?

"Adelaide!" Wanda shouted from the kitchen, pulling her from her thoughts. Adelaide glanced at the clock. It was time for her to go back home and Tony was probably waiting outside. On cue, her phone buzzed.

 **Tony** : It's time to go, I'm in the car outside.

Biting her lip in frustration, Adelaide grabbed her duffel bag and headed downstairs, her footsteps louder than when she had gone up.

When she stepped into the kitchen, she realized that Vision had stolen her seat at the island.

"Hey, Vision," she greeted, dropping her bag at the foot of the island.

"Hi, Adelaide. How have you been?" he said. She let out a breath, glancing at Wanda.

"I've been better," she answered, grabbing her unfinished juice glass off the countertop. Vision and Wanda glanced at each other knowingly and Adelaide tilted her head to the side curiously. Why did they look like they knew something she didn't? Eyeing them carefully, she finished the last of her juice and then put the cup in the sink.

"Tony's waiting for you outside," Vision said, a subtle smile on his face.

"Yeah," Adelaide said, now totally convinced that there was something going on, "I know."

"Adelaide?" Wanda said, as Adelaide was picking up her duffel bag. The teenager looked up, meeting her eyes.

"You know, you can trust me," Wanda said honestly, referring to their earlier conversation. Adelaide searched her face for any sign of what she meant by that and just as she was about to ask, her phone buzzed in her hand and she looked away.

 **Tony** : I'm not getting any younger, kid.

"It was nice to see you again, Adelaide," Vision said, nodding. Trying to collect her scattered thoughts, she managed a nod. She glanced at the witch again who wasn't smirking anymore and hitched her duffel bag over her shoulder.

"Bye, Wanda," she said and headed towards the doors.

"Bye, Adelaide." Something in her voice told Adelaide that Wanda knew something. With a shake of her head, Adelaide pushed open the glass doors and stepped outside where she spotted a bright orange car on the dirt road and a billionaire waiting impatiently inside.

Adelaide headed towards the car and when Tony noticed her, he opened up the trunk and she threw her bag inside before getting inside the car.

"Ready?" he asked.

She nodded and Tony pulled the car away, heading onto the main road. Adelaide leaned her head back and looked out the window. She wasn't sure what to think about. HYDRA or Wanda? There was nothing she could do about either situation. She sighed, looking at her lap and staring at the dark screen on her phone that was reflecting the bare trees on the side of the road as they drove by them.

Now that HYDRA was off the table, she had to find another way to get information about her parents and her past. But she knew HYDRA was hiding something — they had files on her parents. Should she ask Ned to keep trying? No, she couldn't put his life on the line. It would be unfair. Maybe she could ask Tony?

She glanced at him. He could probably do it. But should she let him? This was HYDRA. It was SHIELD level work, even if he could do it. Things could get messy, on a bigger scale.

Suddenly, her phone came to life.

She picked it up, curiously running her eyes over the email notification. It was an email from an unknown contact. Furrowing her eyebrows, she opened it. Immediately, her screen went white for a couple of seconds until a small message popped up.

_Do you accept this message?_

She tapped the  _yes_  button, holding her breath. Her phone had never behaved like this before. What was going on? It opened up a completely blank email and she scrolled to the bottom, where there was a single sentence.

_Show this to your friend, he'll know what to do._

–  _V_

Adelaide tried to open the encrypted file that was attached, but it was just a bunch of symbols and numbers that she couldn't make any sense of. With a sigh, she dropped her phone into her lap and leaned her head back. Tony glanced at the teenager.

"You okay?"

Adelaide felt a small smile coming on her face as she realized what Wanda had meant when she said that she could trust her. Vision had overheard her conversation with Ned. Now she and Ned would be able to decrypt the files and see what was inside.

"Yeah," she said, smiling, "I'm fine."


	27. Chapter 27

* * *

_"How much can_

_Captain America_

_really lift?"_

* * *

Adelaide was nervously twisting her hands together as she was waiting in the hallway before school started.

Last week, she hadn't exactly left on good terms with Peter. If anything, he probably thought that she was angry at him. All weekend long, she had thought about ways she could make plans for the three of them to hang out together. She had to figure this out – Peter was her best friend.

At the same time, Adelaide was equally anxious about talking to Ned. She had the urge to send him the email or even tell him over the phone, but she knew better than that. It would be safe if she told him in person, but not here, in school. Adelaide had tried messing with the email herself on her laptop, but nothing happened and she eventually gave up, having gotten sick of the shrill beep it made whenever she clicked anywhere on the screen. Computers were definitely not her cup of tea. She was going to leave it all up to Ned and hope he would know what to do with it. Vision had definitely thought he would, even if it was based off of an eavesdropping of her phone call with Ned.

"Adelaide?" Ned asked, suddenly appearing in front of her. She looked around to see if Peter was anywhere close by. Assured that no one was listening to their conversation, she leaned closer so that only Ned could hear her.

"Listen," she said, dropping her voice to a whisper, "I have to tell you something."

Ned furrowed his eyebrows.

"What happened?" Adelaide looked around again as a safety measure before turning back to Ned.

"Come to the Tower at 5:00 today. I found a way to decrypt you-know-what."

Ned's eyes grew wide.

"No way! But you – how?! You're not even –"

" _Shh!_ " she said, looking around to see if anyone had heard.

"Yell louder, will you?" she whispered.

"Oh," he said sheepishly, realizing, "Sorry."

"So can you come? It's urgent," she said. Ned opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by someone else.

"Hey Ned," Peter greeted, walking up to them. Adelaide straightened up, clearing her throat.

"H-Hey Peter," Ned said, trying to regain his composure while understand the information that Adelaide had just dumped on him.

"Hey," Adelaide offered with a small smile.

Peter was slightly taken aback. Wasn't she mad at him last Friday? After his fight with Flash (which did not end well for Peter), Adelaide had walked away in anger and hadn't even called to ask if he been okay after he had been taken into the counselor's office.

The school counselor, Mr. Perry, had had a very,  _very_  long talk with Peter and they came to a conclusion that he would be given detention for two days. When Uncle Ben and Aunt May had found out the next morning via a call from Mr. Perry himself, they had gone berserk. Their sweet, innocent little nephew Peter had gotten into a fight? It must be the end of the world. Luckily, Peter had been able to calm them down and convince them that he was fine. Although, he couldn't say the same about Flash but he didn't dare relay that to them and he had managed to get away with only a week of grounding. In all honesty, that hadn't stopped him from sneaking out of his window after they were asleep to test out the cool things that had been happening to him.

After almost falling down a 3 story building, Peter had learned that he could stick to things with his hands and feet. It was a strange feeling. Speaking of, his hairs on the back of his neck would rise up everytime he was about to be in danger whether it was just a ball coming at him or a mugger sneaking up on him while Peter was between buildings. He had started to call it his 'spidey sense.' Peter had even developed a sturdy sort of web...thing. He created these little boxes that he could easily wrap around his wrist and filled them with the web that he made. He called them 'web shooters' because whenever he held his arm out, webs would shoot out from them and allow him to swing just about anywhere. It was exhilarating. Since then, Peter had gone out every night after Ben and May were asleep, discovering more about his new abilities.

"Hey," Peter replied, looping his thumbs under his backpack straps. He smiled back.

"How did it go with Coach Graves after...you know," Ned asked curiously. Peter shrugged, looking away from Ada.

"I have detention today and tomorrow and I'm grounded for a week." Ned's eyes grew wide.

"Graves can ground you?!" he asked in surprise. Adelaide rolled her eyes, lightly hitting his head.

"He's talking about Ben and May, you idiot," she said. Ned grinned sheepishly.

"Right," he said, "I knew that."

"So I guess you can't really go anywhere this week?" Adelaide asked, feeling all of her plans to hang out going down the drain.

"Well, not until Thursday," he said. Adelaide lit up.

"Great!" she said, "We can hang out on Thursday."

Peter searched her face, confused. Was there...Had he been imagining things or did Ada look too excited to hang out?

"I...I actually meant Friday. Or this weekend," he lied. Peter didn't have time to watch movies or hang out. He had to practice using his new abilities and his web shooters still needed perfecting. Adelaide's face fell.

"Oh," she said, "Next week, then?"

Peter watched her for a moment.

"Um, sure," he said. He'd deal with next week later. For now, this was good enough.

Before the conversation could continue any more, the morning bell rang, signaling that they had 2 minutes to get to class.

* * *

Adelaide closed the door behind her, leaning against it for a moment with her hand still on the doorknob. Her palms were starting to sweat and she realized she was slightly out of breath. Pepper and Tony weren't home yet and they only had about 30 minutes before they came back. So they would have to make this quick.

"I still don't understand," said Ned, "Don't take it personally, but, Adelaide, you're  _terrible_  with computers. How did you find a way to decrypt the files? Last time we talked about this, you said we should stop trying."

Adelaide shook her head, taking a seat in the chair. She turned her phone on, finding the email and opening it up for Ned to see. She handed her phone to him.

"I didn't," she said, "Vision did."

Ned's eyes grew wide.  _The_  Vision? As in the android?

"Holy crap, Adelaide! Vision sent you this email? When?  _How?_ " he asked in disbelief.

"I visited the compound this weekend with Tony and ran into him there," she explained.

"Woah...where can I get superpowers like yours and join the Avengers?" he asked dreamily, "Just imagine shaking hands with Captain America and seeing the mighty Thor with his hammer…"

"If I knew where my superpowers were from, I wouldn't be trying to decrypt these stupid HYDRA files," she mumbled, "So do you think you can do it?"

Ned snapped out of his quasi-trance, looking through the email again.

"It'll take a couple of minutes, but I think I can," he said. Adelaide breathed a sigh of relief. Vision had been right. Whatever that was in that file, Ned knew how to access it to decrypt the files. In a few minutes, she might actually be able to see what was inside the files this time. It was Vision's algorithm, it had to work.

Ned flipped open his laptop and booted up some kind of coding software. He hooked the phone up to the laptop and typed something. A few seconds later, the computer began processing something. There was a green bar and at the end was the loading percentage written.

_34%...36%...37%..._

"Can I ask you a question?" Ned said, looking at her. Adelaide side-glanced at him, but continued to stare at the percentage, hoping that would make it go faster.

"What?"

"How much can Captain America really lift?" he asked and Adelaide gave him a pointed look in response.

"It's a valid question!" he argued. Adelaide sighed.

"I don't know," she said, "A house, maybe? I don't know the exact pounds."

"Can Thor really make lightning come out of his hands?" he asked. Adelaide glanced at the screen.

_50%_

"I think? He just prefers to use his hammer," she said, shrugging.

"Wow," Ned said in awe.

Adelaide actually knew these people. She knew the Avengers. Why was this just now hitting him? Maybe it was because the initial shock of one of his best friend having a superpower was finally settling down. He didn't really care; he was just happy to be a part of this.

"Can–"

" _Ned_ ," Adelaide warned.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly.

They both silently watched the screen as the percentage changed one by one. It was agonizing. Adelaide wondered if the clock in the room had actually began to tick slower. Maybe it was just her. The two teenagers awkwardly sat in silence, twiddling their thumbs while waiting for the computer to finish its job. Adelaide glanced at Ned who looked like he had swallowed a ribbiting frog. She rolled her eyes, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Okay, spit it out," she said finally and Ned let out the breath that he had been holding.

"Can Vision really walk through walls?" he asked.

"Yeah," Adelaide groaned, "It's a bit annoying, really. But he's still adjusting to his human form."

"Wow," Ned said suddenly, "He can actually  _walk through walls_. How cool is that?"

"Cooler than controlling light?" she asked, smirking. Adelaide glanced at the screen.

_75%_

"No way," Ned said, "I would so much rather control light! Can you imagine how many make-believe video games I could play with that?"

"Of course that's what you would use it for," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I would try to save the world and stuff too. You know, become famous," he said.

_85%_

"Maybe you could be the guy who's an expert at hacking stuff," she joked.

"They'd call me the Hacker," he said.

_90%_

"Or Virus," she suggested.

"Pixel," he said.

"Nice to meet you, Pixel," she said, holding her hand out for him to shake.

"Likewise," he said in a fake-deep voice and the both began laughing, trying to shake off the nervous energy. Sure, their jokes weren't as funny, but it felt relieving to shake the nerves with laughter. If this didn't work, Adelaide didn't even want to think about what would happen — what HYDRA would do.

_95%_

Adelaide was starting to get even more nervous. She wanted to know what was in those files so desperately, but she also knew that oblivion was safer. What if she didn't like what was in those files?

_97%_

"Hey, I just want to say thank you for doing this for me," Adelaide said honestly, "You have no idea what it means."

_98%_

"Are you kidding! I love doing this! This is like super-cool spy stuff," he said. Adelaide grinned.

"It is pretty cool," she admitted.

_99%_

"Are you ready?" Ned asked.

Adelaide took a deep breath, shaking out her nerves for the last time. This was it. She was finally going to see what was inside those files. About her parents. Maybe even her. Her powers. The man who killed her parents. Everything.

"Yeah," she said, letting out a shaky breath, "I'm ready."

_100%_

The computer beeped quietly.

_Initializing files for viewing...Files initialized. Ready for viewing._

The screen began scanning through the files, flashing over them too quickly for Adelaide to read. Then, it stopped on a black screen with a prompt box that read:

_Please type the name of the file._

"Let's start with 1A, okay?" Ned said and Adelaide nodded, too nervous to talk. He typed in 1A and the computer began processing.

_Locating file 1A. Standby…File 1A successfully located. Opening for viewing..._

File  _1A_  was a journal.

Adelaide stared at it, wondering if she was missing something obvious. It was pictures of the pages in a journal and there were many illegible notes and diagrams scribbled over them. It was research.

"Can you...read that?" Ned asked, squinting. Adelaide could feel her heart racing in her chest as her eyes fell on a scribble on the corner of the page.

_H.R._

It was her father's journal. Henry Rivers. It was his research. Adelaide began looking through it frantically, trying to figure out what it was about. There was a messy sketch of a long tube drawn in the middle with a lot of smaller sketches and notes based off of it. Adelaide felt her face getting hot and her heart gave a squeeze.

She could understand this.

"It's a design for a particle accelerator," she breathed.

"You can actually read that?" Ned asked, shocked. Adelaide's eyes never left the screen, trying to absorb all the information at once. The surprising thing was that she could make sense of it. It was complicated physics, well beyond anything that they taught in high school and, yet, it came to her naturally.

"See that?" she asked him, pointing to her father's initials in the corner, "This is my dad's journal. Henry Rivers."

Ned's eyes grew wide.

"Your father was designing a particle accelerator?!"

Adelaide nodded, reading the notes on the side of the page. They were calculations for dimensions.

"What could he need that for?" Ned asked. Adelaide shook her head.

"I don't know," she said dejectedly. If anything, this had raised more questions. Why would her father need a particle accelerator? What had he been planning?

Adelaide looked through the rest of file  _1A_ , but it was just more planning for the accelerator and it gave no information on what it could be for. Although, he had made sketches that had nothing to do with the project (she definitely hadn't inherited his artistic genes) and he had scribbled a science joke in the corner of page to tell Ava later, but Adelaide couldn't make sense of it so she figured it was probably just something between the two of them. He had even made a note to listen to an AC/DC song, but Adelaide couldn't make out the name of it.

She smiled to herself. He would've gotten along pretty well with Tony if he were still alive. But then again, if he was still alive, maybe she wouldn't have met Tony in the first place.

"Is there a way we can see all of the files at once?" she asked. Ned clicked on something on the screen and then it opened a list of all the files from, in order by name.

"2A?" Ned asked, his mouse hovering over the file. Adelaide nodded silently. He clicked on the file and it opened up another part of the same journal. Adelaide chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking.

"Maybe all the files with A are part of the journal?" she asked. They quickly looked through all of the files and found that Adelaide was right — they were all part of the same journal.

"So all the files with A are your dad's research and design for the particle accelerator," Ned said. Adelaide nodded in agreement. It definitely seemed that way.

Adelaide glanced at the clock. Tony and Pepper would be back any minute now and they weren't even close to looking through all of the files. There were hundreds of them.

"Is there a way you can get these files into a flash drive?" she asked, "So I can have them too?"

Ned nodded.

"I can make a copy of them onto the flash drive, but, Adelaide, you have to be super careful where you keep this. We don't even know what's in these files. If it gets into the wrong hands…"

"I know, I know," she said, "Just get them copied and I'll worry about the rest."

"Alright," he said, still unsure if they should make copies of these files. Adelaide opened up a drawer in her desk and pulled out a blank flash drive, handing it to Ned. He quickly plugged it into the laptop and began copying all the files.

"Honey, we're home!" Tony shouted a moment later. Adelaide looked at Ned, panicked. She glanced at the screen. Only half of the files were copied.

"They can't see what we're doing!" she whispered, "Make it go faster!"

"I can't!" he whispered back.

"Adie?"

"What is it!" she shouted back.

"We brought dinner. Wash your hands and get out here," he said. Adelaide glanced at the screen nervously. They only had 10 percent left to copy.

"Adie? You okay in there?" Tony asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine! Just don't come in here!"

Ned blinked at her.

"Why don't you tell him why, too?" he said and Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Why? What's going on?" Tony asked. His voice was getting closer. There was only 5 percent left. Adelaide moved cover the screen just in time before Tony opened the door.

"Hey, Tony," she said, smiling nervously.

"Hey…" he said, watching her suspiciously, "Isn't that Neddie?"

"It's just Ned," she said. Ned faked sneezed to drown out the sound of the beep that the computer made when it had finished copying the files. He subtly tapped Adelaide's wrist, signaling that she could move out of the way now. Adelaide visibly relaxed, stepping to the side.

"Hey M-Mr. Stark," Ned said, standing up.

"Hey, wanna join us for dinner? We have fried monkey's eyes, if you're into that sort of thing," Tony said. Ned looked horrified.

"He's joking," Adelaide said, rolling her eyes and Ned looked very relieved.

"Thank you, but, um, I really have to get going," Ned said, glancing at Adelaide and putting his hand behind his back. Adelaide got the message and discreetly put her hand behind her back as well. Ned quietly pushed the flash drive into her hand while Tony went on about his favorite Italian foods.

"Tony," Adelaide said, interrupting the billionaire, "I think Ned really has to go."

"Oh. Right. I'll tell Happy to get the car out," he said, "It was nice to meet you again Neddie."

Ned didn't bother correcting the billionaire as he turned around and walked out of the room. Both teenagers relaxed, letting out a breath.

"That was a close one," she said, leaning against the desk, "Be safe, okay?"

He nodded, clutching his laptop bag tightly. He patted it confidently.

"Take care of that flash drive, okay? We could get in a lot of trouble," Ned warned.

"Don't worry about it, I have a place to put it," she reassured.

As she would soon come to know, there was no place safe enough for it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About this chapter: well, you guys will definitely get to see what's in the files so yay *little happy dance*. It's about time ya'll get more information about her parents because it's definitely been a while since last time. Wasn't the last time during chapter 2? Yikes. It has been a while. Don't worry, there's gonna be a lot more of them in the next few chapters. I think. Honestly, even I don't know what's going on so good luck. Just kidding, lol. I have *crosses fingers* everything figured out.

* * *

" _Is this recording?"_

* * *

 

For the next two nights, Adelaide had barely gotten any sleep. She wouldn't be lying if she said that she hadn't slept at all in two days. With the curiosity burning inside of her like a hot flame, there was no way she could sleep. She wanted to read everything in those files and learn as much as she possibly could as fast as she possibly could. This was what she had been waiting for this whole time.

Whenever her eyes would start to droop, she would silently pad into the kitchen and make herself a cup of coffee, taking it back to her room. Adelaide had done her best to keep Tony and Pepper from finding out about her lack of sleep. She couldn't get away with much around Pepper so Adelaide had decided that it would be best if she locked herself in her room with the plain excuse of homework. Maybe it wasn't the best of excuses, but it had worked for the past two days and Adelaide needed maybe only two more to finish going through all of the files.

Once she had gotten through her father's journal (which revealed no information about his purpose for building a particle accelerator), Adelaide had trekked through all of the files from A to D. The files with the D label were the media, meaning pictures and videos, but they mostly consisted of videos.

Adelaide had only been able to watch one video. The moment her father's face appeared on the screen, something had opened up inside of her and she had to spend an hour just to calm herself down.

Adelaide's cursor hovered over the first video from file D. She took a shaky breath.

Back in January, she had had a memory about her parents. It was the one where they had been murdered, but it was the only recollection that she had until now. Now, she had all these videos of her parents and she wanted to burn them into her memory forever. It wasn't as if she had any other memories to remember them by and someone had completely erased their existence off the face of the earth. Including Adelaide herself, until she had appeared at the Tower almost a year ago. Everything only seemed to get more and more confusing from that first moment.

With a deep breath, Adelaide double-clicked on the file, opening it up again. Her stomach began twisting itself into knots and her throat tightened.

Her father's face appeared on the screen. This was about how far she had gotten when she had opened this file yesterday before she had to go and calm herself down.

Her father looked dorky, to say it bluntly. He had big glasses on and he was wearing a shirt with a joke about protons. His hair was obviously disheveled as if he had messed it up by running his hands through it over and over. There were smile lines evident on his face and the corner of his eyes crinkled and shallow dimples appeared on his cheeks when he was smiling. He had a small copper wire wrapped around his ring finger as what Adelaide could only assume was in the place of a wedding ring. She wondered why he didn't have an actually ring, but then the video started and her chest tightened at the sound of his voice.

He sounded like home.

" _Testing, 1, 2, 3," he said, his face really close to the camera._

" _Finally," he mumbled, stepping back from the camera which seemed to be set up on a tripod, although the screen was slightly tilted. He didn't seem to be too good with the technology._

_He was sitting in some kind of home office with two small windows that were barely giving any sunlight. It looked like the sun was setting. There was a bright overhead light that made up for the darkness outside. The office itself was a scattered mess._

" _Today's date, September 23. This is the first official video documentation of project 1978. Purpose is to...well, learn how to operate the camera. Goal: semi-achieved. Well, not really. Wait, is this recording?" he stepped closer to the camera again so that the video only showed his eyeball as he tried to figure out if it was recording._

" _Ava!" he shouted, "How do I know if this is recording?"_

_He blinked at the lenses, waiting for an answer. When there was none, he shouted again._

" _Ava!"_

" _What is it!" she shouted back, her face not visible. She sounded as if she was in a different room._

" _How do I know if this is recording?"_

" _Did you press the red button?" she shouted._

" _I think?" Henry said, "Hold on, let me press it again."_

" _Henry, wai—"_

The screen went dark and Adelaide looked at her reflection for a moment. She looked tired but she was smiling broadly. The video (even though her father had accidentally cut it short), made her feel warm inside as if she was there with them at the moment. It was a bittersweet feeling.

Adelaide couldn't open the next video fast enough.

_Her father's eyeball appeared on the screen again until he stepped back and his whole face was in view. He pushed his glasses up his nose, clearing his throat._

" _It's still me and it's still September 23. Ava helped me with the camera, obviously. Wait, is it recording? Ava!"_

" _What now, Henry?"_

" _Is this recording?"_

" _Yes, and for the love of God keep your voice down. I just got Dellie to sleep and you know she's going to need it," Ava said, appearing at the door. Even with her wrinkled, half untucked shirt and disheveled hair, Ava still looked breathtaking. Her piercing blue eyes twinkled just as bright._

_Henry turned towards the camera._

" _This is not how I wanted these documentations to be," he groaned._

" _Honey, if you were able to be professional with these things then we wouldn't be here," Ava smiled, walking into the room and tidying up the place._

" _You're right," Henry said, "But this project is the most important thing that we're ever going to do and I want to get this right."_

" _I know," Ava said softly, sighing. She set down a notebook on the table and then leaned against it, quietly staring at the ground. There was something pooling in her eyes and it almost looked like guilt._

" _Dellie, pumpkin, if you're watching this, I just want you to know that your father isn't a total loser, contrary to what your mom —"_

" _Or anyone else," Ava added, a small smile on her face._

"—  _might tell you. Now, I'm going to get this right," he said, clearing his throat, "This is the first official video documentation of - wait, you said this was recording, right?"_

_Ava just closed her eyes and pinched her nose, taking a deep breath. Henry winced._

" _Sorry," he mumbled, facing the camera again. He blinked a couple of times, thinking about something._

" _You know what? I'm just going to start this over again," Henry said, reaching for the camera._

The screen turned black again and Adelaide opened another video immediately.

" _Hello. Yeah, it's still me and, yes, it's still September 23," Henry started. Ava wasn't in the room this time._

" _Project 1978 progress report. Subject is in excellent health, though a case of the sniffles was detected last night. With exception to that, health seems to be optimal for Project 1978. A few more scans might be necessary._

" _Particle accelerator is in the first stages of construction. Location site is to be determined. I have a few places in mind, though. It's close enough to the energy field to power the accelerator, but still a safe distance away. Our primary concern is the safety and health of the subject. Should anything go wrong or even show signs of going wrong, the project will immediately be shut down for inspection. If necessary, the project will be ceased. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. Time is not on our side and this must be done quickly and stealthily. If word was to get out even on accident, the results could be catastrophic. Therefore, the confidentiality of this project is critical._

" _With that, I conclude the first official video documentation of Project 1978," Henry finished, turning the camera off._

The laptop screen went black once again and Adelaide was left to wonder  _what the hell_ any of that actually meant. Particle accelerator? Energy field? Subject? Time? Confidential? Adelaide had so many questions she didn't know where to begin. From her experience, the more information she was able to get about her past, the more questions it raised. That was just the very opposite effect that she intended for.

Adelaide sighed, leaning her head back against the headboard and closing her eyes. This was proving to be more stressful than she had imagined.

Her father and mother were making a particle accelerator for Project 1978. But what was Project 1978? They said they had to do it fast because they did not have enough time and they said they had to do it stealthily. Why didn't they have time? Who were they hiding it from? Was it the man who had killed them? Who was the subject they were experimenting on?

Adelaide chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking deeply. There had to be a connection to all this.

But there was one thing that had made clear sense to Adelaide and it was Dellie. She was Dellie. That was what her parents had called her. Adelaide smiled at the thought. She could imagine herself running around the house in her diaper with her parents running after her, shouting ' _Dellie!'_ to get her to stop. Or when they would have played hide-and-go-seek, they would shout ' _Dellie!'_ and she would quietly giggle from her hiding spot.

It was such a small thing, a little detail but it made Adelaide feel closer to her parents than ever. These videos, this nickname , these memories, they felt  _real_. Maybe even if she would never remember her past, she knew that her parents had loved her more than anything and that was good enough for her. It would have to be.

With her nickname and parents' faces running through her head and the laptop still open on her lap, Adelaide fell into a dreamless sleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

"Home Alone?" Ned asked, holding up the disk. Adelaide shrugged.

"Put it to side," she said, "We can decide when Pete gets here."

"Speaking of," said Ned, closing the cabinet under the tv, "where is he? It's been half an hour."

They were at Ned's house for a movie night (which they had not had in weeks and it used to be a weekly thing) and they had been waiting for Peter to come for 30 minutes now. The day before, Adelaide had asked him if he wanted to watch a movie at Ned's house since it had been a while since the three of them had hung out. The conversation went something like this:

_English class (also their last class of the day) was almost over and Peter was getting antsy in his seat. When the bell rang, Peter would be the first one out of the door so he could rush home and practice using his abilities. It was the best part of his day and he was always anxious to get to it. So it was understandable why he was feeling so antsy watching the clock tick on the wall. Was it just him or was it actually ticking slower?_

"Shh _," Adelaide told him and Peter stopped tapping his foot. A moment later he began drumming his fingers._

"Shhh _," Adelaide whispered again, trying to actually pay attention to what their English teacher was saying. She was easily distracted in any of her classes and Peter kept distracting her by making annoying noises. Peter stopped drumming his fingers but then a moment later, he started clicking his pen obnoxiously._

" _Peter, seriously, shut_  up _," Adelaide whispered._

" _Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly. Adelaide glanced at him. Peter had not been the same since their conversation the day before the field trip about...well, her and Ned. Adelaide wanted more than anything for the three of them to be normal again but she wasn't exactly the best at these things and Peter wasn't making it any easier._

_Adelaide had made countless attempts to make time for the three of them to hang out, but it was always Peter who was busy. She was getting the feeling that he didn't want to hang out anymore which stung. Ned and Peter were the only friends she had._

_There was the team, but she wasn't as close with them as she was with these dorks. And Tony and Pepper were more of guardian figures than friends. Well, at least Pepper was. Tony was more like a reckless toddler that she was always looking out for. She was sure Pepper felt the same way._

_Adelaide was getting pretty tired of putting herself out there just to get Peter to agree but she wanted to give it one more shot._

"Pst _," she whispered, trying to catch his attention. Guess she wasn't going to be paying attention in English class today either. Peter looked at her._

" _What?" he whispered back. Adelaide turned around so she could get Ned's attention to since he sat directly behind her._

" _You guys want to watch a movie tomorrow night or something?" she asked. Ned shrugged._

" _Sure," he said. "Hey we can watch it at my place! My parents aren't going to be home tomorrow."_

" _Great," Adelaide said, "Pete?"_

" _Tomorrow?" he asked._

" _Yeah, we don't have any English or Chemistry homework. I checked," she said, eliminating any plausible lies._

" _Sure, But only if we watch a Christmas movie," he said. Adelaide grinned._

" _Deal."_

And, yet, he still wasn't here. It had been a whole hour now. He usually would have called or at least texted. There was only radio silence from his end and Adelaide was starting to get worried. The sun was beginning to set, and it was getting darker outside by the minute.

"Maybe we should try calling him," Adelaide said to Ned who was making a bowl of popcorn in the kitchen. His living room and kitchen had no wall in between so it was like one big room and they could see each other from the different rooms.

"Yeah," Ned said, nodding in agreement.

Adelaide unplugged her phone from the charging port and opened Peter's contact. She had already left him 107 messages which were all left unread. Adelaide tapped on the number and the phone began dialing. She held it up to her ear nervously.

She listened to every ring go through until she heard the woman from the voicemail box and her heart dropped. He wasn't even answering his phone.

"What happened?" Ned asked, seeing the look on Adelaide's face. He set down the bowl of fresh popcorn and walked over to her.

"He's not answering his phone, either," she told him, "You call him."

"Okay," Ned said, grabbing his phone from the coffee table and dialing Peter's number. He listened to the ringing all the way until he heard the automated voice from the voicemail box and then he pulled his phone away from his ear, shaking his head. Adelaide's face fell.

"Listen, it's probably nothing," Ned reassured, "He probably went out to get candy or something and got stuck in traffic."

"For an  _hour_?" she questioned. Ned just looked at her.

"This is New York. Where have you been living for the past year?" Ned said, settling into the couch with his share of the extra buttery popcorn. If anything, Peter was missing out on this amazing popcorn. Adelaide rolled her eyes, flopping down next to him.

At the moment, there were hundreds of files about her parents waiting for her at home. She would much rather be going through those instead of watching a movie, even though tonight had been her plan. Although, she did need a small break from the headache of trying to figure out what things meant. Even though she had all the files and information at her fingertips, none of it made sense. So far, the only thing that she had learned was the plans to build a particle accelerator and that her dad liked AC/DC. Neither of those explained much.

Ned switched on the tv, flipping through the channels to find something to watch until Peter got here. Adelaide glanced over at him as he was gobbling up the popcorn. He caught her staring and looked down at the bowl and then back at her.

"Oh, my bad, you want some?" he asked, holding the bowl out.

"No, thanks," she said, "But you're going to finish that bowl before we even start the movie."

He shrugged.

"We have tons," was his reply. And with that, Ned turned on a random episode of Friends (which Adelaide still had yet to watch but it was on her list of things to watch which was mostly full of Tony's suggestions) and they watched about three of them until Adelaide realized that another hour had passed and Peter still wasn't here. She began to get really worried.

"Ned, it's been another hour. You think he would have at least replied to  _one_  of my texts," she said.

"Try calling him again," Ned said, pausing the tv just as Rachel fell over the balcony while trying to get the Christmas lights.

Adelaide called him again, holding the phone up to her ear. Once again, it went straight to voicemail.

"Hey Peter, it's Adelaide. We were supposed to meet two hours ago and you're still not here. I'm not mad, I just-" she paused, sighing, "Just call me as soon as you get this, okay?"

She ended the call, dropping the phone into her lap.

"Voicemail," she told Ned, sighing. He looked past his friend, outside. It was dark out now and even he getting was starting to feel worried.

"Maybe Uncle Ben knows where he is," Ned suggested.

Adelaide was already dialing his number. She held the phone up to her ear. Two rings later, she stood up and began nervously pacing on the carpet. Then, Uncle Ben picked up.

" _Hey Adelaide,"_  he said, sounding like he was in a good mood. He had no idea about his nephew.

"Hey Uncle Ben," she said, her heart beating loudly in her chest, "Um, has Peter called you, or anything?"

" _No, not recently. He told me he was going out, but that's all I've heard of him,"_ Ben said. Adelaide's face fell. " _Adelaide, is there something I should know?"_

"What? No, there's nothing. Well, um, sorry to bother you, goodnight," she said.

" _Goodnight to you too,"_ he replied and Adelaide ended the call, tossing her phone onto the couch.

"Uncle Ben doesn't know where he is either," she said, starting to freak out. She ran her hands through her hair. "What do we do now?"

"Did you tell Uncle Ben that he wasn't here?" Ned asked. She shook her head, swallowing.

"No! Of course not! I don't want them getting worried, what else was I supposed to say! Hey Uncle Ben, your nephew hasn't been answering any of my phone calls or messages for the past two and a half hours but it's nothing to worry about because I'm sure he hasn't been kidnapped by some New York gang. Ned, Peter had  _promised_  to be here! Ever since we found those HYDRA files, the three of us have barely hung out together and tonight was supposed to be about that! And he didn't even have the decency to show up or at least text back!"

"Woah, calm down, Adelaide. Take a deep breath," Ned said. She sat down on the couch, taking a shaky breath. Why did this matter to her so much? Why did Peter? Why did she care so much about how much they hung out? Why was so worried about him?

_Because he's one of your best friends, you idiot._

Adelaide sighed, closing her eyes. That was true. But then why did she feel like there was more to it?

* * *

Peter Parker had completely forgotten about his promise to meet up at Ned's house this evening. In fact, he still hadn't remembered.

In the wintertime, the daylight faded fast and early. Which was why it was completely dark outside at a time that used to be fairly bright. The darkness cut his curfew short so he had to stop testing his abilities and come home early.

Throwing his web shooters into his backpack, he rang the doorbell and tried to calm his nerves. A moment later, Uncle Ben opened the door, a warm smile on his face.

"Hey there, champ. We thought you were going to spend the night in an alley," he teased, stepping to the side so Peter could walk inside.

"I'm not that late," he said with a smile on his face. The adrenaline was still I getting in his veins and he had a hard time calming himself down. He dropped his backpack from one shoulder, holding it over the other as he made his way to the stairs. "I think I'm just going to go to bed now."

"Are you sure you don't want to have dinner? May made your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs," Ben said. Peter was feeling a little tired from the swinging and he still had to go to school tomorrow.

"I'm not really hungry. Thanks, though. Goodnight, Uncle Ben."

"Goodnight, champ."

Peter made his way up the stairs slowly until he arrived at his room. Once he was inside, he threw his backpack on the floor next to the door and changed into his pajamas.

As he was turning off the lights, he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to go to Ned's house today for movie night.

He flopped down onto the bed and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was too late now. They had probably watched a movie without him.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself. He guessed that Ada was probably a bit mad since this whole thing was her idea, but he would just apologize to her tomorrow. She would probably arrange another date for movie night and it would be fine.

Without even glancing at his phone which he had accidentally left in his backpack, Peter fell asleep within seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ADELAIDE I-DONT-CARE-ABOUT-MY-PHONE-BECAUSE-I'M-PRACTICALLY-TONY-STARK'S-DAUGHTER RIVERS. GOD. HOW MANY TIMES DID SHE TOSS HER PHONE SOMEWHERE? I had a mini-heart attack each time. My fingers might just slip and the phone might break. *evil laugh*
> 
> Question: I can't really think of anything. Oh, wait, I know. If there was one thing you could say to Stan Lee, what would it be?


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say, but I will give you this: Chapter 29 is a verrrryyyyy specialllll chapter ;) ;) ;)

* * *

_"You live in the Stark Tower,_

_smart genes should be floating_

_in your direction all the time."_

* * *

Peter waved Uncle Ben goodbye and lingered around until his car pulled out of the drop-off lane at the school. Then he turned around and made his way towards the school, looping his thumbs under his backpack strap. It was unusually cold today, he noticed.

Peter looked upwards. As usual, there was so sun, but the sky was filled with dark clouds which Peter hoped was snow and not rain. The more snow, the better. That way school would cancelled. Then again, he hadn't really tested his web shooters in below freezing conditions. It  _would_  be a good time to test that out.

Rubbing his hands together to warm them up, Peter walked inside the school. Instantly, he was greeted with warmth and he let out a breath. He checked his watch, he still had a good 10 minutes until he was supposed to be in his seat for his first class of the day. Peter looked around the room, but he couldn't find Ada or Ned anywhere. That's strange. They were usually here before him. Scratch that, they were  _always_  here before him.

"Hey Parker," Flash said, coming up from behind him. He patted his shoulder with a little more force than necessary.

"Listen," Flash started, "about our...argument last week. I say we just put it behind us and forget about the whole thing. What do you think, Parker?"

He squeezed Peter's shoulder, trying to hurt him subtly. Peter realized that a few people were actually watching this conversation so he put up a nervous smile.

"Yeah," he said through gritted teeth, "Sure, Flash."

Once again, Flash patted his shoulder a little harder than was necessary. With a fake, bright smile, he left. As soon as he was out of sight, Peter rubbed his shoulder, rolling it around. He had a feeling that Flash wasn't going to be as friendly as he was acting. At least, that's what his shoulder told him. He was going to have to be more careful.

As he looked around again, he still couldn't see Ada or Ned anywhere. It was almost time for class and the hallway was getting emptier. Where were they? And then, he heard them. Well, her at least. What a coincidence that there was no one left in the hallway to save him.

" _PETER BENJAMIN PARKER!_  You  _asshole_!"

Peter hadn't realized that it was Ada who was yelling at him until she shoved him. Caught off guard, he stumbled backwards a bit. Peter watched his friend heaving with anger, trying to piece together what was going on.

"Ada–"

" _Where the hell_  were you last night?! Do you know how many times I texted you? Called you? Peter, I filled your entire voicemail box and sent you 258 messages which  _you still haven't answered_! We were supposed to watch a movie. The three of us. And you had  _promised_! What the hell was so important that you couldn't come and be yourself for  _one night_? What's gotten into you? You didn't even read any of my texts! I had to call Uncle Ben to ask him where the hell his nephew was and you know what? He had no idea either! So you lied to everyone and disappeared and have the audacity to look surprised that I'm mad at you?"

Peter blinked. His brain was running a bit slow and he was still trying to process everything. He definitely did  _not_  expect for Ada to be this mad.

"Look, Ada, you're overreacting. I was just–"

"I'm  _overreacting_?!" she gasped angrily.

Uh-oh. That was definitely not the right thing to say. Then again, what exactly  _was_  he supposed to say in a situation like this? Maybe  _I'm sorry_ would have been acceptable. It was too early for this — he was hardly fully awake.

"That's not what I mea–"

"Then what did you mean, Peter? Because if worrying all night long wondering if you were okay is overreacting then yes, I was. If feeling my heart beating in my rib cage out of fear for two hours, then yes, Peter I was overreacting. I'm sorry for worrying and I'm sorry for caring too damn much. Maybe it's better off this way," she said, ending with a cold, hard look.

Before Peter even had a chance to say anything, she turned around and left. A moment later, the bell rang and Peter sighed. That was definitely the shortest confrontation in history and Peter had a feeling Ada wasn't going to be in the mood to confront him anytime soon.

* * *

Adelaide had ignored him the best she could all day.

During lunch, Peter tried to make conversation with her but he only got one-word answers and shrugs in reply. And that was only if it was a yes or no question. Otherwise, it was cold, cold silence. Even Ned was kind of mad at him, but then Peter had apologized and they got over it. He just couldn't understand why Ada was so angry about it. He knew that it was his fault and he should have called her and he was willing to apologize for it too, but, apparently, that wasn't enough for Adelaide. He didn't know what else to do or say. She wasn't even willing to listen.

Peter thought that Ada was wrong to get this mad. So he had a secret. So did she. It wasn't like he questioned where she had disappeared to for a month during 8th grade or why she showed up for the last day with no explanation. And he never forced her to let him go to her house even though she's been to his a million times. And that one time during Halloween when she had disappeared from his house and didn't answer his calls or texts all night. So why couldn't she let this one time slide?

Peter had already made several attempts to apologize throughout the day but she wasn't hearing it so he eventually gave up, not knowing what else to do or say. If she wanted to be stubborn, then fine — so could he.

It was almost time to leave and they were packing up their things after their lesson ended in English. The moment the bell rang, Adelaide was the first one out the door. Peter sighed, zipping up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He waited for Ned to finish packing up and then they both made their way out together.

"Adelaide's really mad," Ned said quietly. Peter looked at him.

"Really? I had no idea," he said sarcastically. Ned rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean, Peter. Man, you should have seen her last night. I don't think I've  _ever_  seen her look that panicked. I don't think I've ever seen  _anyone_  look that panicked. You really hurt her, Peter."

"Well it's not like she hasn't done this to me before," Peter argued, "Remember Halloween? How she disappeared and didn't answer any of my calls or messages all night? What about that, Ned? I hadn't even gotten mad."

"That was different."

Peter looked at him, slightly annoyed that his best friend wasn't taking his side.

"Different how? I was just as worried as her."

"Peter, you knew that she was going home. You saw the car pick her up. Last night, she called Uncle Ben and he had no idea where you were either. She was really scared."

Peter looked away.

"I already tried apologizing," he said. He shrugged. "I don't know what else to do."

Ned thought about it.

"What if you put her in a situation where she was forced to talk to you?"

Peter looked at him with slightly worried eyes.

"I'm not going to torture her until she talks to me, Ned."

"What? No! No, that's not what I meant," Ned said, "Listen, we have this big Algebra test coming up this Friday. What if you, you know, offered to help her out with it? Like you guys always do."

Peter chuckled.

"I don't think she even wants to be in the same room as me, I doubt she'll agree to that."

Ned looked around as if he was making sure no one could hear what he was about to say.

"Between you and me, she definitely needs the help. And I'm pretty sure she knows it too," Ned whispered. Peter raised an eyebrow.

"You know she'd get really mad at you if she heard that?"

"How is it going to help if she's mad at both of us, Peter?" Ned said like it was obvious.

"I'm just saying that it would piss her off," Peter shrugged. Ned let out a breath.

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Okay, okay. So how do I ask her? Should I go to her house? Do you know where she lives?"

Ned's eyes grew wide and he cleared his throat nervously.

"W-Why don't you just text her?" he offered, changing the subject. He knew that he'd give it away if he tried to lie. Peter considered it. It could work. She probably wouldn't answer his first text or the first ten but he doubted that she could ignore a hundred of them.

"Fine," Peter said. They were approaching the exit now where students were getting into cars and going home. "But this is my last attempt to apologize to her. After this, if she doesn't want to listen, I'm not going to keep trying."

There go his plans of swinging around for the afternoon.

"Okay," Ned said giving him a thumbs up. Peter noticed that Uncle Ben was already here and he began to make his way to the car after waving goodbye to Ned. Halfway there, Ned shouted his name. Peter turned around.

"What?"

"Get a box of chocolates. You know, for damage control," Ned said. Peter nodded thoughtfully and then got inside the car.

"Hey kiddo, tough day at school?" Ben asked, pulling onto the road.

"You have no idea," Peter sighed. A moment later, "Hey, Uncle Ben, can we stop by a chocolate shop?"

"Sure thing, champ."

* * *

Adelaide had locked herself in her room again and she was looking through her parents' files, though her mind was elsewhere. Every time she thought about him or their fight, she felt angry again. She could not believe that he thought she was  _overreacting_. She'd show him overreacting. And when she had left the school, he didn't even try to stop her to apologize. She wouldn't have forgave him, of course, but it would have been nice to know that he was sorry.

With a very heavy sigh, Adelaide opened up another file. She had finished the video documentaries and the rest were just results of their experiment — or Project 1978. She still had no idea what it was for or why it was called 1978. That was such a weird name to give to a project.

She skimmed through the file that she had just opened. This one was different from the rest. It wasn't written by her parents but it was a file about some man.

_Agent #1585_

_Sex: M_

_Eye color: Black_

_Height: 6' 7"_

_Nationality: Russia_

_Date of recruitment: September 1983_

_Handicaps: None_

— _Edit: Partially visually handicapped_

_Assignment: Agent #1183_

_Supervisor: Ivan Lukov_

_Background: Mother and Father presumably deceased due to drug overdose. Raised by abusive and alcoholic uncle. Joined a local gang and later joined HYDRA. Assigned Agent #1183 a few months later._

There were some other things in that file but they didn't make sense to Adelaide so she closed the file. It had nothing to do with her parents so why was it here? Maybe it was a glitch. As Adelaide moved on to open the next file, a small voice in the back of her mind told her that HYDRA didn't make glitches. She decided that she would talk to Ned about it later.

The next file was about a report from an experiment from Project 1978. It was about the energy field and it was written by her father.

_Particle accelerator is in stage four of five of construction. The location is secured. Energy field expected to be peaking exactly two weeks from now around midnight. Levels of instability are reaching unprecedented heights. Note, it is a surprise that facility held up for so long after its shut down in '65. Optimal time for the production of Project 1978 is 23:55. To be finalized soon. Energy field harness and reflector completed 27 consecutively successful run-throughs today. The repeated experimentation might have slightly altered the time or date for the production of Project 1978._

The next file was about the subject that they were experimenting on in Project 1978. Just as the file was opening, her phone buzzed. She glanced at it. It was a message from Peter. Adelaide's face hardened in anger as she picked up the phone to read the message.

 **Peter** :  _I know you're mad at me and I want to make it up to you._

_What if you came over and I helped you study for your math test?_

_Like we always do._

Adelaide rolled her eyes and tossed her phone to the side, making sure it landed face-down so she wouldn't have to read any more of the messages. A moment later, she turned her attention back to the file. It was a description of the subject her parents had experimented on for Project 1978.

The description was very vague. It only listed a few physical aspects and then some medical. Other than that, she couldn't get any more information from it.

_Age: 5_

_Sex: F_

_Height: 3' 2"_

_Weight: 40 lbs_

_BMI: Healthy_

_All required shots: Completed_

_Red blood cell count: Healthy_

_White blood cell count: Healthy_

_Physical abnormalities: None_

The thing that Adelaide found most unusual was the age. They were experimenting on a 5 year old? With a particle accelerator and a strange energy field? What in the world  _was_  Project 1978? She read the description of the subject once again, but it gave no indication. Sighing, she closed the file. Well, that was the last file in that folder.

Upon opening the next folder, she discovered that there was a single video documentation in it. Just as she was about to click on it, her phone began ringing. She flipped it around, her eyes darting to the caller ID. Peter.

She pressed the red button, effectively hanging up the call. She did  _not_  want to talk with him. Once again, just as she was about to open the file, her phone began ringing again.

Adelaide had the sudden urge to chuck it out the window but, instead, she just ended it again. This time, she turned her ringer off. Taking a deep breath, she faced the computer once again.

 _Again_ , the phone began vibrating loudly on her desk just as she was about the open the file. Adelaide groaned, tossing her head back in anger. If this was Peter's idea of apologizing, it was certainly having the very opposite effect.

Just so he would stop calling, she picked up.

" _What,_ " she hissed through gritted teeth. It wasn't even a question — it was a demand. Either he didn't sense the anger dripping from her voice or he chose to ignore it.

" _Hey,"_  he said rather cheerfully, " _did you get my message?"_

"Yes," she said curtly. He waited for a heartbeat, expecting an explanation. When she offered none, he cleared his throat.

" _And?"_

"No."  _Go choke on a fly._

" _Please? Look, I'm trying to make it up to you. How can I make it up to you if you don't even give me a chance? And, plus, I know how important this math test is. I can really help you study for it and I promise that you'll have my full attention and I won't leave until you do. I think it's a —"_

"Fine," she snapped, sounding angry still.

" _Great! And I have a surprise too…"_

"Goodbye," she said, ending the call.

The only reason she had agreed was so that he would stop calling her. She considered standing him up like he had her but then she concluded that she wasn't like him and he would probably catch on and not get worried like she had. On the other hand, she had needed help with this test but she was too prideful to ask. Especially after...the events of this morning. But that didn't mean that she was any less mad at him.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her attention back to the computer. The video. It was about the 5 year old they were experimenting on. With another deep breath, she opened the video.

It had not even been half a second of the video when Tony shouted her name. Adelaide groaned loudly, hitting her head against the desk.

"I'm doing homework!" she shouted back. He knocked on her door and Adelaide immediately flipped her laptop shut, turning around. In her haste, she almost knocked over the cup of coffee sitting on her desk. Luckily, she caught it just in time. Tony pushed open the door and walked inside.

"I have something more important," he said, matter-of-factly. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"Even worth getting an earful from Pepper once I tell her that you're not letting me do my homework?"

He shrugged.

"You can do your homework later. Haven't you been getting a lot more than usual lately?" he inquired with slightly narrowed eyes. Adelaide cleared her throat, stalling.

"Yeah, well, um...you know, midterms are coming up," she lied. Midtown High didn't have midterms. But she's already lied so many times so why not once more?

"You don't need to study," he said, "You live in the Stark Tower, smart genes should be floating in your direction all the time."

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows.

"Um, sorry to break your bubble, but that's not how genetics work," she said. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Are you gonna help me or not?"

She slumped into her seat.

"Can't you go bother Pepper? Or Happy?"

"They're both out. Now get off of your lazy butt and come help me," he said.

"You can say 'ass', you know" Adelaide said, getting up and begrudgingly following him down the hall.

"You're too young for that kind of language," he said, waving his hand. Adelaide scowled.

"I am  _14_ ," she reminded him, irritated, "I think can handle a cuss word, Tony."

"Mm, I don't think so," he said, opening up the door to his lab. She walked in after him, rolling her eyes.

 _This_   _man_.  _Argh_.

"What do you need me for? You have like a million suits and robots to do stuff for you," she said, almost turning to go back.

"None of them can control light, can they?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Well, they can't," he said, hunched over something on his desk, "Not yet, at least."

"Good to know," she grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest, "I still don't know what you need me for."

"I was getting there," he said. Suddenly, he stood up abruptly and turned around, grinning broadly. "I'm making a software update for my machinery."

"I'm the last person on earth that could help you with that," she pointed out, "Actually, I probably couldn't help you then, either."

"I need you," he said, walking around his desk, "to create an illusion of an extreme situation so I can test my beta program."

"Situation? What kind of situation?"

He shrugged.

"That's up to you," he said. Adelaide frowned.

"Yes, but do you want to see if your new software supports surfing or a hit from a cannon ball?" she said. He considered it.

"We can try both. You up for it?" He turned around again and began fiddling with something on his desk. Then, he disappeared under the desk.

Adelaide lifted one shoulder.

"Depends. How long is this gonna take?"

He popped his head up.

"It's 3:30, you can finish your homework later," he said.

"You have 30 minutes," she said.

For the next 60 minutes, Adelaide created illusions as the billionaire ordered.

_Adie, make the waves bigger!_

_Adie, make an alien!_

_Adie, get me a soda!_

The last one, she did not do. But this little...experiment had gotten her mind off of the bigger experiment: Project 1978. Even though, Tony had promised to only take 30 minutes of her precious time, he had, of course, lied. She didn't mind, though. It was admittedly fun, though a little tiring. Nothing she couldn't handle.

Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was time for her to go to Peter's house. She groaned internally. That was the place she wanted to go. In fact, she didn't want to see his face again until he had properly apologized.

_How is he going to apologize if you're never going to see him?_

She rolled her eyes at herself without realizing.

"Where are you going? We still have to test out Mars," he said. She stopped by the door.

"I'm going to Pete's," she told him, "And we are  _not_  going to Mars. You said 30 minutes and it's been 60."

"Touché," he mumbled, "Have fun."

She pushed the door to the lab open, feeling her anger towards Peter resurfacing. If he didn't apologize today, she was never talking to him again.

"Oh I will," she muttered to herself before walking out and letting the door shut behind her.

* * *

A few minutes later, she arrived at Peter's house. She got out of the car and waved Happy bye. He told her that he would be back in exactly one hour and Adelaide couldn't wait for the hour to be over.

She knocked on the door, waiting impatiently. She realized that there we no cars in the driveway which meant Ben and May weren't home. Good. That meant she could yell at him as loudly as she wanted to.

Looking up, she noticed that the sky looked particularly cloudy today. And the clouds were dark. Was it going to rain?

Before she could contemplate her answer, the door swung open and Peter was smiling broadly on the other side. He stepped to the side so she could walk in. In an instant she was warm again and she shed her coat, hanging it on the coat rack. When she turned around, Peter was standing there, holding something behind his back. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

He was acting weird. This morning, he had told her that she was overreacting and now...well, he was acting weird.

"I got you this," he said, holding up a box of chocolates, "To apologize. So...um, I'm sorry."

Adelaide glanced at the top of the box. Coconut-flavored chocolates. She looked up at Peter.

"Did you know," she started, her voice a steely whisper, "that there is only one thing on earth that I'm allergic to?"

Peter's face fell. Of course. How could he have forgotten? He cursed at himself.

"I'm gonna guess it's coconuts?" he said weakly. Adelaide gave him a deathly glare in reply.

Peter tossed the box onto the couch, clearing his throat nervously. Well, that was more words than she had said to him all day. Progress.

"Um, well, we should start studying," he said, trying his best to not be intimidated by her glare. She said nothing, just stood there with her arms crossed. Then, she grabbed her backpack off the floor with considerable force and marched up the stairs. With a long and heavy sigh, Peter followed after him. This was not going well, well, for him at least.

When she entered his room, she dropped her backpack by the door and pulled out her math homework and began working silently. Peter watched her from the doorway, slightly gaping. That was definitely...unusual. Usually, she would complain about math and curse at the homework a million times before actually starting.

He cleared his throat nervously. She was really mad this time.

"So," he said, opening up his own backpack, "how did you find out you were allergic to coconuts?"

She answered him with cold silence. The question had managed to make her even more angry because she did not know the answer. She tightened and relaxed her jaw.

_Remember, he has no idea. That is not what you are mad about._

But at this point, she was just angry and she couldn't establish. Everything was blending together. Letting out a quiet, frustrated sigh, she began scribbling something down on her math homework.

After a few more minutes of stoic silence, Adelaide looked up from her paper. She needed help. But she didn't want to ask. From the corner of his eye, Peter had noticed the dilemma on her face and knew instantly what she was thinking. He opened his mouth to offer to help, but then quickly closed it. A small smile appeared on his face. He could wait to help her. At least, until she asked.

The silence stretched on for an agonizingly long minute. And then two. Three...Four...Peter could hear her pencil scraping across the paper angrily, trying to solve it for herself...Five….Six...Sev—

"Um," she said, effectively breaking the silence, "I…"

Peter wasn't in a hurry to finish her sentence for her even though he knew what followed. He suppressed a grin.

"I...Can you…" she said, trailing off each time, "I...um...I need help." She blurted the last part out quickly, feeling a heat of embarrassment.

_Argh! He had purposely called me here because he damn well knew that I would have to talk to him! And I did!_

She began to feel angry again but then Peter took the paper from her hands, studying it. A moment later, he bent down so he was level with the table and slid the paper in front of her again.

"You set this equal to zero and then...see this?" He pointed to an equation at the top of the paper. "This is the equation you're supposed to use to find the answer for this. Then you just plug it in up here and that's it."

He always explained these things so simply it made her feel stupid for not seeing them before. As he stood up again, a certain word stumbled at the tip of her tongue. A word that was usually said after someone had done something nice for you.

"Um," she started.

_No! Don't say thanks! You're still mad at him!_

"Yes?" he said, feeling a smile on his face. He could tell what she was struggling to say.

"Nothing," she said after a moment. He shrugged.

"Okay," he said, walking back to his own homework.

Thankfully, Adelaide hadn't needed any more help from him after that and the rest of the hour passed by quickly. Soon, her phone lit up, informing her that Happy was waiting outside. With a sigh, she began packing her things into her backpack again. She stood up, slinging her backpack around her shoulder.

She glanced at Peter who was standing as well and then nodded before turning away and heading out the door.

"Wait!" he blurted, catching up to her. She turned around just as he caught up to her. "I'll walk you to the door."

She gave him a curt nod and headed downstairs, with him right beside her. As the approached the door, Peter got more nervous. She still hadn't forgiven him. It wasn't like he should try to apologize again, because he already had. Like, a million times.

Taking a deep breath, he faced her again just as she was reaching for the doorknob.

"Listen," he said, holding his hand out to stop her, "I'm really,  _really_  sorry about last night. You're right. I should have called you and told you but...I didn't and I'm sorry."

Adelaide studied his face for a moment.

"I thought I was  _overreacting_ ," she said. Peter sighed.

"Yes, and I'm sorry about saying that, too. Next time, I'll call you, I promise."

"This isn't about calling me, Peter!" she said, feeling her anger returning in waves. She was suddenly as mad as she was last night. She couldn't believe that he thought he could get away with just promising to call next time!  _Next_  time?

"Then…?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Adelaide let out an angry groan.

"You can't just fix this by promising to call next time! There shouldn't  _be_  another next time!" she shouted, "All I wanted was one night. Just  _one damn night_  where the three of us could hang out for once! I've been trying for weeks but  _every single time_ you were busy. And the  _one_  day that you had  _promised_  to be there, you weren't! On top of that, I had no idea where you were!"

Peter opened his mouth but Ada, apparently, wasn't finished.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that there is nothing going on between Ned and I. It's all in your head and I just wanted one night where the three of us could hang out to prove that there really isn't —"

"Wait,  _what?_ " Peter asked, interrupting. When she didn't answer, he answered his own question. "You did this whole thing because you think that I still believe that  _you and Ned_...Oh my God, Ada! Seriously? I can't believe this!"

Now he was angry too. He couldn't believe that this whole time,  _that_  was the motivation behind her actions!

"What do you expect me to think!" she shouted back.

"I expect you to trust me like I trusted you when you told me there was nothing going on between you two!" he shouted. Adelaide felt her jaw tightening.

"Trust you?! Peter, you disappeared last night without explanation and  _you want me to trust you?!_  Are you  _mad_!"

"At least I was only gone last night! What about the time you disappeared for a whole month and showed up on the last day of school without explanation! How am I supposed to trust you after that!"

"That," she said, dropping her voice to a deadly whisper, "was different."

"Really?" he breathed, "Well why don't you explain how?"

"You knew I was safe. I called you and I texted you almost  _every_  —  _single_  —  _day_. Don't you  _dare_  turn this around on me," she whispered, taking a step closer to him. There were almost nose-to-nose now, both heaving with anger. Peter didn't take a step back.

"You were gone," he whispered, taking another step closer, "for a  _month_ , Ada." Peter had a few inches on her so they were nose-to-chin now and he was glaring down at her in anger.

"I didn't sleep last night because I was so damn worried," she said, "I almost called the police to report that you were missing. I almost went out there to look for you myself, damn it. If Uncle Ben hadn't called me when he had and told me that you were home safely, Peter, I don't know what I would have done. Do you have  _any_  idea what was running through my head during those hours?"

Peter didn't have an answer to that. He knew that she had been worried, but he didn't know it was this much. He didn't know that while he had been peacefully sleeping, she was pacing her room, debating whether she should go look for him herself. He didn't know that he had worried her that much. He didn't think  _anyone_  had  _ever_  been that worried about him. Maybe he had scared her a bit. A subtle feeling of guilt washed over him. If he was in her place, he would have been pretty mad, too.

Peter suddenly realized how close they were. They were less than an inch apart. They had been this close before. So why was it just striking him now? And how come he had never noticed the gray freckles in her bright blue eyes or the curve of her long lashes? Her cheeks were slightly red from the anger, but had they always looked his soft? Why was he just noticing all this? What was this feeling?

His eyes unknowingly flickered down to her lips. They looked…

He felt himself leaning down, seemingly not in control of his body. Peter was only vaguely aware of his actions as he parted his own lips.

A moment later, they were on hers.

For second, Adelaide was frozen like an ice wall. She thought she was imagining things. But the tingling feeling of the soft, warm lips on hers told her that this was real. Very real. As if it was a instinctive thing to do, she found herself kissing him back, losing control of her own actions and distinctly realizing how crazy this was. Her anger seeming vanished as other thoughts took control of her mind.

It took the two a second to realize what they were doing before they both jerked away, staggering backwards, eyes wide.

Adelaide could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Her breath was out of control. The feeling scared her. She was suddenly aware of herself, in this room, her nerves on fire. It took every muscle in her body to keep herself from reaching up to her lips. The were warm and sparking with what could only be described as electricity.

Peter felt his heart hammering in his ribcage and he tried to concentrate on keeping the blush from reaching his face. Instead, he found himself focused on the lingering feeling of her lips on his. He clenched his fist, trying to calm his nerves.

The two made eye contact, trying to read each other's thoughts.

Peter swallowed, feeling his face heating up. He didn't want to see how red he looked. Adelaide took a quiet, shaky breath that seemed to echo in the room.

_What was that?_

Adelaide struggled to find her voice and then to form a sentence. She had to get out of here.

"I...I have to go," she managed. Her voice sounded a lot shakier than she liked and definitely not her own, but right now, she wanted nothing more than to bolt out of the door. Her head was spinning with a multitude of questions.

Peter nodded shakily, internally cursing at himself.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

"R-Right," he stuttered.

Adelaide looked at him again for a moment before twisting the doorknob and walking out as fast as she could without running.

Happy was already there and Adelaide had never been so happy to see him. She hurriedly got inside the car and closed the door with tinted windows, leaning back in her seat, trying to steady her breathing. She hadn't realized how breathless she was.

"What's the matter?" Happy asked, looking slightly concerned after seeing the expression on the teenager's face.

"Just drive," was all she could manage to say. When she looked outside, there were soft, white flakes falling to the frozen ground. It was finally snowing. Adelaide closed her eyes, leaning back into her seat again.

As much as she hated to admit, somewhere along the way home, she had reached up to touch her tingling lips and she was left with a warm feeling in her heart, despite the cold outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *PARTY SIRENS IN THE DISTANCE*
> 
> IT FINALLY HAPPENED! How many of you actually saw this coming? I didn't lol. I was almost done with the chapter until I realized that they were supposed to kiss! And then I went back and edited like a good author.
> 
> So what did you guys think of it? Probably that it was too short lol. I would say don't worry, but there aren't anymore kisses happening anytime soon.
> 
> Tony: Darn it.
> 
> Sorry, Tony. *grins* Well, I'm sure you can guess what's next. Awkwardnessss.
> 
> Question: What's your favorite thing about Adelaide?


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick recap: Adelaide got super mad at Peter for leaving her hanging and making her worried so Peter invited her to his house to help her study for her math test and as Adie was leaving, he kissed her and now things are mad awkward haha. I love confusing my characters. It makes my job so much more fun.
> 
> This chapter, admittedly, has almost nothing to do with Peter minus a couple of scenes so sorry if that's what you were expecting. I had to get something else to happen before we move into Uncle Ben's arc so here we are. And I did NOT cry while writing it, I promise.

* * *

" _Let me kiss youuuu!"_

* * *

The wind was howling. Through the window, Adelaide could see a white blanket rolling over the streets of Manhattan. The snow was sparkling bright enough to light the whole city and yet it looked darker than ever before.

The wind whistled again, making its presence known.

" _After an anxious wait for snowfall this year, New York has seemed to have been granted its wishes. A mild blizzard is making its debut on the east coast and this snow outside is only the beginning. Hundreds of schools have been closed and thousands of employees have been trapped within their homes, the snow barricading their doors. It looks like New York is going to be off the streets today…"_

"So we're all staying in today," Tony remarked, making Adelaide look away from the tv. He was in the kitchen, making himself his third cup of coffee of the morning. Adelaide glanced at the clock on the wall. Was it only 9:30? Suppressing a yawn, she pushed herself away from the window and headed into to kitchen to make a cup of coffee for herself. With extra, extra caffeine.

She had not slept at all last night. Not even for 10 minutes. Naturally, she felt exhausted this morning. She blamed Peter for it. If he hadn't...hadn't  _kissed_  her then she would have been able to sleep just fine. It was all his fault.

_But you kissed him back, didn't you?_

Adelaide let out a quiet sigh that Tony couldn't hear. Every time she thought about it, everything felt like a blur. One moment she was yelling at him and the next...the next she was...well…

Adelaide shook her head vigorously. Her stomach always began to feel funny every time she thought about  _it_. She resisted the annoying urge to reach up to her tingling lips. The stubborn feeling would  _not_  go away.

"How's your beta software?" Adelaide asked, wanting to stop thinking about  _it_.

"Still beta," Tony answered with a sigh, "Pepper locked me out of the lab."

Adelaide turned around, raising an eyebrow. It suddenly made sense why he was on his third cup of coffee at 9:30 in the morning.

"Did you spend more than 15 hours in there again?"

Tony looked down at his coffee.

"20," he mumbled. Adelaide smirked.

"You know, I kind of liked it better when you were in there," she retorted.

"You sure know how to make a man feel important," he said sarcastically.

_Soft, warm lips on hers...the taste of chocolate on his lips…_

Adelaide shook her head. No. She  _had to stop_  thinking about it. She needed a distraction and fast.

"...don't worry, though. I'm still a pretty important man," Tony said. Adelaide hadn't realized that he was still talking. "Even though Pepper's the one who's in charge of everything."

_That's it!_

"Is she in her room again? Working?" Adelaide asked.

"Yeah...why?" Tony asked. Adelaide grinned. The perfect distraction.

"Well, I just think that if  _you_  aren't allowed to work in your lab,  _she_  shouldn't be allowed to work from home either.  _Especially_  on a snowy day like this…" she suggested. Slowly, a grin appeared on the billionaire's face.

"I like the way you think. Maybe those Stark genes really are floating in your direction," he said. Adelaide was too happy for a distraction to even roll her eyes.

"What if we cooked her lunch and forced her to come out of her room?" Adelaide suggested.

"We'll make Italian."

2 hours and many Italian curse words later, the ravioli was ready. Well, it wasn't  _their_  ravioli exactly. For the first hour and half, everything was going fine until, well, Adelaide burned the sauce. Seeing that they didn't have any left, Tony resorted to just ordering from the nearest Italian restaurant that was still open.

After setting up the table, the two went down to Pepper's room to drag her outside to join the rest of the civilization. After a lot of (a  _whole_   _lot_ ) of convincing, Pepper finally agreed to come outside. But only for 30 minutes. Little did she know, that the teenager and the billionaire had a whole evening planned for the three of them and she wouldn't be going back to her work for a while.

After a mediocre lunch (the only Italian place that still had delivery had a two star rating), they forced Pepper to watch a movie with them and the three of them settled onto the couch with one, big blanket to cover them.

They hadn't realized how dark it had gotten outside until the overhead lights switched on. Since neither Adelaide or the billionaire had slept the night before, they were out like lightbulbs well before bedtime. Once they were asleep, Pepper had decided to sneak back to her office but Tony's arm held her down with surprising force. In fact, Pepper almost thought that he was feigning sleep until she heard him snoring lightly. With a small smile, she decided that the work could wait and she settled back into the couch under Tony's arm while Adelaide was snuggled onto the billionaire's lap like a little girl.

While the icy wind continued to howl outside, the three of them drifted off into deep sleep, dreaming about work, robots, and a certain boy kissing her…

* * *

 _Adelaide_   _felt like she was being watched even though there was no one around for as far as she could see or hear. Somewhere in this warehouse there was a roof leak and the water was dripping steadily into the bucket underneath. Somehow, there were heaps of snow inside the warehouse as if someone had shoveled it all in. Shivering, Adelaide turned the corner, almost running into a stack of brown, wet boxes._

_She let out a quiet curse under her breath. Why did it have to be so dark in here! She could barely see her hand in front of her face. And, more importantly, what the hell was she doing in this warehouse? And where were Tony and Pepper?_

_Blindly walking through the building, Adelaide hoped for an exit to magically appear in front of her._

_There it was again. The feeling that she was being watched. Holding her breath, she turned around slowly but there was nothing. Well, not that she could see much to begin with. Still, she grabbed a wrench off the table just to be safe._

_Then, only a few minutes later, Adelaide thought she could hear footsteps. Her breath caught and she froze, tightening her grip on the wrench._

" _Who's there?" she shouted into the darkness._

_Then, from the shadows, stepped out...a giant coconut? It looked down at her but it didn't have eyes. She wondered if that made it scarier or not. She decided it didn't matter because either way, there was a 10 foot tall coconut standing in front of her._

_Adelaide took off, sprinting and dropping her only weapon. No number of wrenches were going to help her against a giant coconut who, she just realized, had started to run after her._

" _Wait! Wait!"_

 _Adelaide most definitely_ did not  _wait and picked up her pace, seeing that it could_ talk _._

" _Ada! Wait!"_

 _Her feet stumbled and she almost lost her balance at the sound of her nickname. Only one person called her that. And it was_ not  _a giant coconut._

" _Wait, Ada! Let me kiss you!"_

_Adelaide almost fell over again as she tried to run even faster. Her feet were barely keeping up and she had no idea if she was about to run into a stack of boxes or maybe even another giant coconut._

" _Let me kiss youuuu!" the coconut shouted after her._

" _No!" she breathed, still running, "No! No!"_

Adelaide jerked awake, panting. Her throat felt raw and she blinked rapidly, trying to figure out where she was. She grabbed a handful of the blanket on her, the memories returning. She had fallen asleep on the couch. And there were no giant coconuts chasing her.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she fell back onto the couch.

"Ow!" someone said just as her arm hit his head. She sat up, turning around. She hadn't even seen Tony sleeping next to her.

"Oops," she mumbled, "Sorry."

He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his face.

"God, what time is it?" he muttered, his eyes barely open.

" _It is 7:40 am, sir,"_ answered FRIDAY.

Adelaide threw her head back and closed her burning eyes. They had slept for 10 hours. That was more than they ever got.

"Thank God I don't have school today," she mumbled with her eyes still closed. Adelaide figured since they cancelled school because of the snow yesterday, it probably wasn't open today either.

 _Then I won't have to see_ him _._

For some reason, Adelaide couldn't decide how she felt about that.

" _Actually, Midtown High isn't closed today. The late bell rings at 8 am, in exactly 18 minutes. Should I inform Mr. Hogan to pull out the car?"_  FRIDAY said.

Adelaide let out a half-groan half-sigh. Maybe she would have to see him then. Great. Just great.

"I don't want to go," Adelaide said. Tony let out a breath, his eyes still closed.

"Then don't."

" _Sir, Miss Potts has informed me to ensure that you make Miss Rivers go to school day,"_ FRIDAY said.

"Of course she did," Adelaide mumbled. "And there's no way I can convince you to lie to her?"

" _I'm afraid not. My program has strictly forbidden me from telling any fibs."_

"This is all your fault," Adelaide told Tony, poking his ribs. He let out a sleepy grunt that sounded like the word  _how_. Or maybe it was  _ow_.

"Why couldn't you program your little AI to lie every once in a while?" Adelaide said.

"Because," Tony mumbled into the pillow, "when I'm in my suit, I like it when my AI tells me if I'm about to die. It's a nice heads up."

" _You have 15 minutes, Miss Rivers."_

Mumbling some  _very_  colorful Russian words under her breath and letting out a very, very long and thorough sigh that informed Tony exactly how she felt about the honesty of the AI, Adelaide forced herself off of the couch and made her way to the bathroom to get dressed for school.

She childishly crossed her fingers, hoping  _he_  wouldn't come to school today.

* * *

Apparently, crossing fingers didn't work nowadays.

If it weren't for the assigned seats in Chemistry, Adelaide would have chosen to sit on the opposite side of the room, as far away from him as she could. Unfortunately, she was sitting directly beside him and Mr. Danson was about to give them an assignment where they had to work in pairs.

"Now I want every pair to have a copy of the assignment. The instructions are on the back and fairly straightforward. We will work on this until the end of class. If you have any questions, I'll be at my desk," he informed. Instantly, everyone began working on the assignment while Adelaide took her time to dig through her backpack for a pencil even though she could see it at the top.

When it had been long enough, she pulled her pencil out with a sigh. Well, now there were no excuses. They had to talk. About the assignment, of course.

The only question was...who was going to start?

After about 5 minutes of totally awkward silence, Peter cleared his throat. There, that was a start. Adelaide looked anywhere in the room but him.

"I guess we should probably...um," Peter started, feeling his face heat up. Why was this so hard? They had talked before. Plenty of times.

_And now you've kissed her, too._

No! Stop — thinking — about —  _that!_ It didn't happen. He had just...happened to fall in a...compromising position, that's all.

_If that's all it was, then why is your heart racing?_

His heart was most definitely  _not_  racing. He scowled at himself, wondering why his inner voice wouldn't shut the hell up. It wasn't making things any easier.

"You get the measurements, I'll answer the questions," Adelaide said, internally wincing with each word. But it was a good idea. This way, they wouldn't have to talk.

Peter nodded eagerly, feeling the same way.

Both of them gave a quiet sigh of relief and got to work on their own thing, sitting as far apart from each other as the table would allow which wasn't much. They were both very, very aware of the three inches of space between them. Adelaide could almost feel her nerves tingling.

Peter started to take measurements of different liquids as it instructed on the assignment. He was almost done when he realized that he needed one more beaker to measure the last liquid. Without thinking, he stretched out his hand, pointing to the beaker sitting on Adelaide's side of the table.

"Can you pass that here?" he asked, momentarily forgetting the  _Thing_  from yesterday. As if back into their natural rhythm, Adelaide grabbed the glass beaker without thinking and handed it to him.

It was when Peter to grab it, it happened.

Their fingers touched as Peter grabbed it and they both jerked their hands back almost as if it were a reflex. There was a loud  _crash!_  and they both slowly looked down at the shattered beaker that was spread across the floor.

The whole class fell silent and everyone in the room turned around, craning their necks to see what had just happened.

Mr. Danson stood up from his desk, his expression looking as if he knew exactly what that sound meant. Peter and Adelaide glanced at each other as Mr. Danson marched to the back of the room. He looked enraged at the sight of the shattered beaker.

" _Who_  did this!" he shouted.

Peter and Adelaide avoided each other's gaze and Mr. Danson grew angrier.

"I asked  _who_  did this!"

"M-Me it was me," Peter found himself saying, "I...I didn't grab the beaker and…"

Adelaide suddenly looked up, her eyes looking into his for the first time since yesterday. He was taking the blame for her. But why?

"I assume you understand that you will have to clean this mess?"

"Yes, Sir," Peter mumbled, getting out of his seat grab a broom. With a satisfied look and another glare at Adelaide, Mr. Danson marched back to the front of the classroom and everyone immediately went back to work.

Peter came back with the broom and silently began sweeping the floor. Adelaide watched him for a second, contemplating whether she should ask why he had just done that. Instead, she silently grabbed another broom and began cleaning the mess with him. Peter threw her a grateful look when she wasn't looking.

Neither of them of them knew what it was that they were feeling at the moment or how that feeling would soon control their lives. At the moment, the only thing they could think about was the heat of Mr. Danson's glare on the back of their heads and that was that.

* * *

Ned was noticing something peculiar about his friends: they hadn't said a word to each other all day. Not one. Heck, they hadn't even  _looked_  at each other! Something was definitely wrong…

He wondered if it had anything to do with the apology Peter was supposed to make yesterday...that could be it. What if Peter said something wrong and made Adelaide even more mad? That was definitely a possibility, knowing Peter.

Ned sighed. He would just have to ask since neither of his friends looked too eager to tell him otherwise.

"Something happened," Michelle noted and Ned couldn't tell if she was talking to him or herself. Her voice was quiet enough so that only he could hear.

"They've been like this all day," Ned told her. Michelle narrowed her eyes at the two. Something was definitely up…

"It might help if we start a conversation and then see if they talk to each other," he suggested. Michelle shrugged and Ned took the action as a yes.

"The weather's nice," Ned commented, raising his voice so that Peter and Adelaide could hear him. They both glanced at his direction and then looked away.

"Which part?" said Michelle, "The freezing snow or icy wind?"

Ned sighed, feeling hopeless. Michelle wasn't the best at keeping up a conversation and it seemed that, today, neither were his two friends. It was no use. Neither Peter or Adelaide would say a word or even look in the other's direction. He was dying to know what had happened. Who was mad at who?

The moment the bell rang, Ned was onto Peter like an FBI agent on a case.

"What happened?" Ned asked. Peter's answer came quickly, as if he'd been preparing it all day.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Ned studied his face as they walked out of class together. Adelaide was already gone and Michelle had seemingly disappeared, as usual.

"Did you apologize to her?"

"Yes."

Ned waited for more, but Peter kept walking, looking straight ahead.

"And?"

Peter hesitated. Was Ada still mad at him? He had apologized before...before…

Had she...Was she mad at him for kissing her? Had she even forgiven him in the first place? Should he ask her?

"Peter?"

"What-oh sorry. I don't know yet," he answered.

"What do you mean?" Ned asked. How could Peter not know if Adelaide was still mad at him?

"She told me that she was um...thinking about it," he lied. Well, it wasn't too far from the truth. Adelaide definitely  _was_  thinking about it.

Ned sighed, dropping his head.

"I hope you guys work things out," he mumbled. Peter glanced over at him, a heavy feeling settling over his chest.

"Me too," he said quietly.

* * *

At the Stark tower, Adelaide was doing everything she could to distract her mind. She tried watching ESPN with Tony but after spending an hour with Tony yelling at the players, she had had enough. As usual, Pepper was in her office, working.

Adelaide tried (really, she did) to get her out of the office and join the rest of humanity but the most she got was five minutes over a hot chocolate.

"So how's school going?" Pepper asked, stirring her hot chocolate/coffee. She never drank anything unless it had caffeine or booze. Now that she thought about it, Adelaide realized she wasn't much different. Though, the last alcoholic drink she had was a beer with Wanda months ago.

"It's...good," she mumbled.

"And math? Is Peter still helping you out with that? How is he, by the way? I haven't seen him in a while."

Adelaide refrained from groaning. The whole point of this conversation was to  _avoid_  thinking about Peter.

"He's fine. He's great," she muttered.

_Great at kissing…_

Adelaide's face contorted into an expression that was somewhere between pain and anger. Pepper seemed oblivious, glancing at her phone for notifications every half second.

"If you have to go, I understand," Adelaide said. This conversation was doing the opposite of helping her avoid thinking about Peter anyway. Pepper glanced at her, then at her phone, and the she sighed.

She tucked her phone away into the corner of the table and faced Adelaide again.

"No, sorry. I'm 100% here, I won't look at my—"

The phone lit up, ringing. Pepper picked it up.

"No, listen, Ronald. I told you Monday at  _12:30_  not  _1:20_ ," she barked into the phone. Adelaide sent out a silent prayer for Ronald before slipping out of the kitchen. Pepper barely noticed, too engrossed into her heated conversation with the man who had supposedly messed up her meeting.

Distracted and disoriented, Adelaide traipsed into her room.

When Peter kissed her...why did he do it? Did he...Could he…? No, no way. They were best friends. She was as close with him as she was with Ned. They were both her best friends. So then why was she so worried for Peter that night? And why didn't the kiss feel...wrong?

Adelaide reached up to tentatively touch her lips. If she closed her eyes, she could still remember the lingering feeling. Instead, Adelaide kept her eyes wide open. She would have to stop thinking about it. It was ruining their friendship. They uttered maybe 5 words to each other all day today.

Adelaide sighed, sinking into her bed. When had things become so complicated? She rolled over, clutching her pillow. She just wanted things to go back to the way they were. She missed Peter; she missed her best friend. Adelaide closed her eyes, involuntarily touching her lips.

Her heart gave a little jump and she opened her eyes again. Things would probably never be the same again.

She sat up, running her hands through her hair. She needed a distraction, something to get her to stop thinking about Peter.

Her eyes fell on her blinking laptop sitting atop her bedside table.

The video file! She had completely forgotten about it after Tony had pulled her into his lab.

In a second, she was logged into the computer and she plugged in the flash drive, anxiously waiting for it to upload the files. It seemed to take longer than usual. Once it was on, she quickly found the video file again and her father's face appeared on the screen. She clicked the play button without hesitation.

_Her father looked at camera but it felt like he was looking straight at her. He looked...sad and tired. With a heavy sigh, he opened his mouth._

" _This isn't a video documentation for the project," he started. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face, looking as if he was holding the weight of the world on his shoulders._

Adelaide suddenly wanted to reach out and embrace him.

" _Ava and I have been working for this our whole lives. It's why we left SHIELD it's why we left behind everything we knew. We're ticking bombs, Dellie. Sooner or later, he's going to find us and he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants. Ava and I know that we couldn't fight him — we could only run. And that's we've been doing all these years. Until you came along, Dellie." He gave a tired smile that didn't quite reach his eyes._

" _Once we had you...we knew we couldn't keep running. You were this, small, little...baby. Most adorable thing I've ever seen. And that's not only because you look a whole lot like me. You were delicate."_

_He took a deep breath, his smile fading away._

" _So we went into hiding. It was a temporary solution. We knew he would find us soon but we had a plan," he said and then he looked directly at the camera, "Project 1978. Our research was dangerous. If it ever got into the wrong hands — his hands — Ava and I would never be able to forgive ourselves. We had to get rid of all of the research and data and notes — everything. But it was our life's work." He paused for a moment, looking off into the distance._

" _So we created Project 1978. We decided to put our life's work into you, Dellie. Tomorrow, we're going to risk everything we know and everything we have. It's our only choice but maybe it's a big mistake. If things don't work out…" he stared at the camera, looking scared — terrified, "I am_ never  _going to forgive myself. But if everything goes perfectly...at least we know that you'll be able to protect yourself, and that's all I can care about."_

_He blinked, seemingly snapping out of his thoughts._

" _We just might be the worst parents in the world and I'm sorry for everything we've put you through. You deserve so much better, pumpkin. Tomorrow will decide our future and I hope that, somewhere in your heart, you can find a way to forgive us for everything."_

_He looked down, collecting his thoughts. A tear fell onto the table. He looked up again, his eyes red and brimmed with more tears threatening to spill over. He gave a weak smile._

" _No matter what happens tomorrow — we will always love you, Dellie. Always."_

_With one last deep breath, he reached over and switched off the camera._

Adelaide stared at the black screen, listening to the silence.

She sat there, frozen and unable to move for ten minutes.

Then, quickly stumbled out of the bed and emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Gasping for air, Adelaide pushed herself against the wall. She clutched her stomach, shivering in cold sweat. She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaky hand, and leaned her head back against the wall.

She must have sat there for hours, shivering. When she finally went back into her room, it was dark outside. Her laptop was still in the same place she had left it. With shaky hands she picked up her laptop and placed it on her lap after she sat down.

Swallowing, she hit play and watched the video again. Twelve times until she had memorized every word and every action.

Sometime though the twelfth watch, she fell asleep, exhaustion taking over.

Her dreams we filled with thoughts about her parents and machines and Peter.

* * *

Sometime later, Pepper pushed open the door to the teenager's room, sticking her head inside.

She realized that Adelaide had fallen asleep with the lights on and laptop flipped open on her lap. With a small smile, Pepper walked over to the teenager. She carefully removed her hands from the laptop and then placed it on her bedside table, flipping it shut. She covered Adelaide with her blanket and gently moved her hair away from her face.

She gave her a light kiss on her forehead and turned around after one more lingering look. As she turned, Pepper realized Tony was standing at the door, watching them.

"Just like me, isn't she?" Tony asked, referring to the millions of times that he had fallen asleep with his laptop still in his hands. Pepper gave him a look.

"Unfortunately," she said.

"Come on," he said, playfully punching her arm, "she's got all the good Stark genes."

Pepper gave him a look.

"That's not how genes work."

"Okay, so maybe she's a little like you, too."

Pepper shook her head at the billionaire, a small smile forming on her face. A moment later, it was gone.

"What is it?" Tony asked. Pepper glanced at the teenager.

"I'm worried about her. She barely comes out of her room nowadays and she tried talking to me today but I just had so much work to do…"

"Don't worry about it, it's what teenagers do," Tony said. Pepper bit her tongue, refraining from reminding him that Adelaide wasn't any normal teenager. He knew. He knew very well.

"Have we found any more information about her parents yet?" Pepper asked. Tony avoided her gaze.

"You have been looking, right?" Pepper asked. Tony looked at her, his face filled with an emotion she had never seen before.

"She's hurting enough as it is," Tony said, "She's needs more time to figure things out before we dump information about her past onto her. She's still a kid, Pepper."

Pepper tried arguing against it, but she closed her mouth. Tony was right. No matter how hard she tried to prove to them that she could handle herself, she was still just a kid.

"You're right," she said, "it's dangerous."

Tony nodded silently and Pepper turned off the light.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So last chapter, Peter and Adie were acting SUPER weird after the Thing and then there was a few Pepperony+Adie (what are we calling it lol) moments and then our favorite heroine FINALLY figured out what Project 1978 was and then you guys will found out what it is in this chapter in case you haven't already figured it out yet lol.
> 
> After this chapter, things start to get VERY interesting...mhmm interesting indeed.

* * *

**"** _He_   _had_ _seen_   _enough."_

* * *

Adelaide hadn't been able to get Ned alone all day until lunch time when Peter went to use the bathroom and Michelle was conveniently not present.

Ned had been trying to get Adelaide alone too — to ask her what exactly had happened between her and Peter and why they weren't talking to each other still. But Adelaide was onto him faster than you could say Usain Bolt.

"Can you come to Tower after school?" she whispered, leaning across the table. Ned was taken aback for a moment and he stumbled to piece together what exactly was happening.

"Um, what?" was all that he managed to get out.

"The Tower. After school. Pay attention, will you?"

"But why?" he asked. He didn't like the serious tone in her voice. It meant that something was wrong and he didn't like it when something was wrong.

"I've got something to show you on the files. It's important," she answered. Ned shook his head.

"I can't — I've got a decathlon meeting," he said. Adelaide cursed under her breath in Russian. When Ned had hoped to learn Russian, he definitely didn't expect to start with words like  _that_.

"What time is it at?" she asked.

"Um, 3:30," he answered and he watched as Adelaide did the calculations in her head.

"School ends at 3 so we can meet in the library after. You've got your laptop, right?"

"Erm, no, actually. My mom...took it away," he said sheepishly. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"What did you do?"

"I was...playing video games after curfew," he mumbled. Adelaide sighed.

"We'll have to meet in the computer lab, then."

"But the files are on my laptop and it's locked in my mom's closet at home," Ned said, looking up. Suddenly, he gasped. "You're not going to break into my mom's closet, are you?!"

"What? No, Ned," she said, giving him an incredulous look. "I am not going to break into your mom's closet."

"Then how are you going to show me the files?" he asked, confused.

Adelaide dug into her pocket, closing her hand around the familiar flash drive.

"Don't worry about it," she told him. Ned studied her face for a moment and then his eyes went wide in realization.

"Adelaide, you can't carry the flash drive around! It's dangerous!" he said.

"Shh!" she said, looking around to make sure no one else had heard. "It's also dangerous to shout about it!"

"But —" Ned stopped suddenly, realizing that Peter was coming. Adelaide saw the look on Ned's face and understood without having to turn around.

"Three o'clock, after class," she whispered and Ned swallowed.

He had almost forgotten that this super secret spy stuff also came with the risk of getting caught. Almost.

* * *

Adelaide was just about to ready to sprint out of the classroom when the dismissal bell rang. It had been nearly  _impossible_  to keep her mouth shut all day. How could she have? She had finally figured out what Project 1978 was! Well, maybe not all of it, not yet. She was kind of relying on Ned to fill her in on the missing information.

Since they had opened the files, they had divided them between each other. Adelaide got all of the video and journal documentations (since they were a bit more personal) and Ned got the research and data. He hadn't found anything very particularly interesting yet — rather, anything that made sense — but she hadn't had a chance to ask him about it for the past few days so she hoped that he had run across something useful since then. Maybe something that would piece with her theory on Project 1978 and then they would finally,  _finally_  figure out what it really was.

Ned had promised Peter that they could both study for a bit in the library before their decathlon meeting (after all, Liz was going to be there), but now he was struggling to come up with an excuse so he could go to the computer lab with Adelaide. Adelaide, from the door, was giving him looks that were  _not_  helping.

"Why not?" Peter asked when Ned told him he couldn't go to the library.

"Because...Because um, my algebra teacher wanted to see me after school," he said. Algebra was one of the only classes that he didn't have with Peter so he wouldn't question it.

"For half an hour?" Peter asked. Okay, maybe he would.

"Yeah...he...talks a lot," Ned said. Peter shrugged.

"Okay, well I'll just meet you in the auditorium," Peter said, shrugging.

"Y-Yeah, see you," Ned said. With one last look, Peter turned around and walked out of the classroom. As he passed Adelaide, she just stepped to the side without looking at him. She knew that if she looked at him she would start to feel that...that  _feeling_  again and, right now, there were much more pressing matters that needed to be dealt with.

Speaking of…

"Come on, Ned!" she whispered-yelled. Seemingly snapping out of his thoughts, he shook his head and followed Adelaide down the hall to the computer lab. There were so many things that could go wrong...

For one, they weren't supposed to be inside without adult supervision. What if they got caught? They'd get in big trouble and Ned didn't want to get in big trouble.

As they approached the lab, Adelaide pulled the familiar tingling feeling to her fingertips and then she and Ned were invisible. Once they were inside the lab, they didn't have to worry about getting caught but they had to be careful now.

Ned turned to Adelaide to tell her that they should just wait but she wasn't there. He looked down.  _He_  wasn't there either! Wait...did that mean...now way!  _They were invisible_. He almost shouted out in happiness but stopped himself just in time.

"We're invisible!" he whispered. He couldn't tell exactly where she was or see her expression but he definitely could imagine it after hearing the tone of her voice.

" _Yes, Ned_ ," she whispered through gritted teeth, "and that's why we need to be  _silent_."

"Oh. Right. Sorry," he said but he didn't feel one bit sorry.  _HE WAS INVISIBLE!_  This was like the coolest thing that had ever, ever happened to him. Expect maybe — no, definitely not. This was by far the coolest thing  _ever_.

Adelaide pulled out a bobby pin from her pocket and began picking the lock. A moment later, she heard a soft  _click!_  and she pushed the door open.

"Go!" she whispered to invisible Ned. He stepped forward and bumped into Adelaide.

"Ow!" she whispered, "The other side!"

"Right, sorry," he whispered, stepping from the other side. This time, he didn't walk into any invisible girls and stepped into the computer lab. He looked around. The lights on here were off and turning them on probably wasn't a good idea.

He turned around just in time to see the door closing and Adelaide became visible again. Ned looked down. He was visible too. He kind of missed being invisible already. Before he could miss it too much, Adelaide dragged him to the nearest computer and shoved the flash drive into his hand.

"Hurry. We only have 25 minutes."

Ned quickly booted the computer on and plugged the flash drive in, wondering what on earth could be so important that Adelaide couldn't wait for a few hours to show him.

The computer loaded, taking its time. Adelaide wanted to yell at it, but she knew that wouldn't be the best idea so she settled for biting her tongue. After what seemed like hours, everything was finally loaded and the familiar software opened up on the screen. HYDRA's logo flash across the screen briefly. It still made Adelaide want to hurl into the nearest trash can every time.

The screen prompted for the password and Ned quickly typed it in. All the files began loading, one by one. Taking the mouse from his hands, Adelaide searched through the file until she found the one from last night. With a deep breath, she opened it up. Her father's face appeared on the screen.

"Is that…?" Ned asked. Adelaide nodded.

"That's my father," she said. The video started.

" _This isn't a video documentation for the project…"_

About two minutes later, Ned was blinking at a dark screen, confused to say the least.

"Was I supposed to...figure out something?" he asked.

"Not yet," she mumbled, already pulling up another file. This one gave the description of the subject that they had experimented on. Ned skimmed through it until his eyes caught on something.

"They experimented on a  _5 year old?!_ " he said, raising his voice.

"Shh! You'll get us caught! And yes, Project 1978 was an experiment on a 5 year old," she told him. He was silent and Adelaide could see the gears spinning in his head. Finally, he turned to Adelaide.

"What does this mean?" he whispered. Adelaide met his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Don't you see, Ned?  _I'm_  the 5 year old they experimented on."

There was pin-drop silence for what felt like hours. Ned just stared at her, opening and then closing his mouth repeatedly. Adelaide watched him carefully, worried he was going to pass out.

"Say something," she urged.

"How?" was all that came out. That was all the prompting that Adelaide needed to spill over everything that she had learned about Project 1978.

"Like the video said, they had left SHIELD because there was a man who was after them for what they knew. Then they went into hiding after I was born. No one knew where they were. They disappeared and not even SHIELD could find them again. They were in contact with no one and their main goal was to protect me. They sacrificed their lives and everything they had worked for — for  _me_.  _I'm Project 1979._ "

"Woah," said Ned, "I think I can take a guess on what the results of the experiment were...that means that the particle accelerator and all that research and that red glow thing —"

"Wait, what red glow thing?" Adelaide said, cutting him off.

"Oh, I was going to tell you. Last night, I was looking through the last few files and I ran across this follow-up that they had done on their energy —"

"Field?" she offered.

"Yeah, exactly. How do you know that?"

"It was in one of the files that I looked at. I couldn't figure out what it was, but I know that they used it to power the particle accelerator," she said. Ned nodded.

"Yeah, that's what the file said, too. Here, let me just show you," he said, already typing something into the computer. A minute later, he had pulled up another file that looked as if it was a page from her father's journal. Ned scrolled down to the bottom where there was a small sketch on one side and some calculations on the other.

Adelaide gasped when her eyes fell on the sketch. Quickly, she skimmed through the rest of the journal.

No way… _No way_ was that true.

"What is it?" Ned asked. Adelaide felt her mouth moving but no words came out.

"Ned, what else does it say about this power source?" she whispered. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, it said that it was really powerful...it had this red glow to it...oh, and strangely enough, they said that it almost acted as if it was alive — what is it, what's wrong?" he asked after seeing how her face had paled in the darkness. The glow in her eyes seemingly flickered.

"What is it, Adelaide?" he asked again, standing up to her height.

"Ned…" she whispered, her glowing eyes boring into his, "The energy source my parents used —  _it was an infinity stone_."

* * *

Graves sighed, flipping his laptop shut. That was enough for today. In his opinion, it was enough for a lifetime, but, apparently, that son of a bitch Lukov thought differently. Now if  _he_  had to pretend to be a high school coach...that would be a different story entirely. Graves chuckled to himself humorlessly, turning off the lights and locking up his office.

The school was quiet. He glanced down the hall and through the walls quickly before pulling out a cigarette from his inside coat pocket. He lit it up, closing his eyes at the familiar taste. Letting out a breath, he made his way down the hall, ready to get the hell out of this miserable place.

He was almost glad his half-conscious uncle had never sent him to one of these places back then. He probably would have ran away long before. His finger twitched at the thought of his uncle and a smirk crawled onto his face. His uncle was rightfully resting in peace, at the moment.

He was just passing by the computer lab when he heard the sounds. Voices. And not just any voice. Instantly, his good eye bored through the wall. His extended vision adjusted to the darkness inside the lab until it landed on a very familiar teenage girl with slightly glowing blue eyes. And...what was that? He narrowed his eye, stepping closer.

On the top corner of the computer screen was HYDRA's infamous mark. The skull based off the ancient monster from Greek mythology. There was another kid there, he realized. He remembered seeing him in one of his classes.

He stepped back, looking away and the wall became a barrier once again.

This was not good. Lukov was going to kill him if he found out. And the question was, how much did Rivers already know? What if she had already found out about...no, no way. He had to stop this now or he was a dead man walking.

Quicker than lightning, Graves was at the door, pushing it open. He pretended to be surprised.

"Rivers," he addressed, "what are you two doing in here during after school hours?"

From the corner of his eye, he saw the kid frantically close the software while Rivers tried to cover the screen.

Rivers glanced at the kid who evidently seemed panicked. Slowly, he turned his head towards the coach.

"We were...um...watching…porn," he mumbled. Rivers spinned around, But Graves couldn't see the expression on her face. He had to assume it was anger.

"...The two of you?" Graves asked. He saw Rivers' shoulders sagging as she let out a sigh. He didn't miss the fists she was making.

"Sorry... _sir_. It won't happen again," she said, her back to him.

"You'd better hope so," Graves said, enjoying this more than he should have. He knew this was a problem that he would have to fix as soon as possible. "Now, get out."

The two teenagers glanced at each other and then grabbed their stuff and shuffled out of the computer lab hurriedly without even sparing him one glance.

Glancing at the computer one last time, he stepped out and locked the door again. His jaw tightened.

He had seen enough.

* * *

When Adelaide got back to the Tower that afternoon, there was a surprise waiting for her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even see the surprise until it called her.

"At this point, I think you're just ignoring me."

Adelaide paused, turning around to see none other than Wanda Maximoff sitting on the couch. Her face broke into a grin as she ran up to the witch.

"I'm not ignoring you," she said.

"Well, then you're not very good at noticing things," the witch remarked.

"Ha ha, very funny," she replied, settling onto the couch, "So what are you doing here?"

"What, I can't just come to visit?"

" _You_  wouldn't," Adelaide said, narrowing her eyes infinitesimally.

"You're right," the witch agreed, "I came here to ask you something."

Adelaide grew serious again. The last time they had met, she acted like she knew something and told Adelaide that she could trust her. And then not even a few minutes after she had left, Vision had sent her an email that helped her de-encrypt the files and finally open them.

"What is it?" Adelaide asked, almost whispering. She had a feeling she knew the answer already.

"Did you open them?" Wanda asked, referring to the files. Adelaide looked away.

"Yes."

"And? Did you learn anything?"

Adelaide didn't answer.

"Adelaide?"

"You can't tell anyone," Adelaide said and Wanda met her eyes, nodding. Adelaide took a deep breath and started. She told the witch everything from the her parents to the Infinity stone to the man who was after her parents. Adelaide figured the witch might be able to help her with the Infinity stone since she had gotten her powers from one herself. When she was finished, Wanda fell silent, the gears in her mind spinning. Adelaide's mind wandered as she waited for Wanda to say something.

Adelaide still wasn't sure if Coach Graves had seen anything they were doing. Ned had managed to close everything in time but...what if he saw what they had been doing? Would he even understand? In a hurry, Ned had snatched the flash drive and hid it in his pocket and Adelaide had forgotten to ask him for it back so she couldn't even show Wanda all of the files even if she wanted to.

"So your powers...come from an Infinity stone?" Wanda finally said. Adelaide nodded.

"And your parents experimented on you because they wanted you to be able to protect yourself from this man?"

Adelaide nodded once again.

"But we still don't know who this man is?"

Adelaide shook her head.

"And you think that he's the one who killed your parents?"

She nodded.

"But you still don't know anything about the past 13 years of your life?"

Adelaide let out a breath.

"No."

Wanda swallowed, thinking.

"That's rough," the witch said.

"That's putting it mildly," Adelaide mumbled.

"What color was the stone?" Wanda asked suddenly.

"Red," Adelaide replied immediately, "Which one is that?"

"From what Viz told me, that's the reality stone…"

Adelaide assumed that Viz was Vision. She didn't know that they were on a nickname basis...But then her thoughts were interrupted as Wanda's words settled in.

" _The reality stone?_ " Adelaide asked in disbelief. She quickly tried to recall what Thor had told her about the reality stone. It was definitely more powerful than her. She couldn't change reality itself. She could only create the illusion that she had.

"You what I think?" Wanda said, almost talking to herself.

"I don't have your powers," Adelaide said, "So no."

Wanda ignored the teenager.

"I think," the witch started, "that this man who killed your parents took you for your abilities. He had been after your parents for what they knew. Their research and data but once they put all of that in  _you_ , it just made it that much easier for him."

Adelaide tried to take that information in. Of course. That had never occurred to her before. Her parents' intention for giving her these abilities was so she could protect herself. But those abilities became the reason he took her and killed her parents. It was the perfect plan. She felt her hand curling into a fist as she gritted her teeth.

Adelaide was  _livid_.

She wanted that man's throat between her fingers and squeeze the life out of him. She wanted him to the feel the pain that she had – that her parents had. She wanted to torture until he was begging to die, until he couldn't take him anymore and then she wanted to hurt him more. She didn't just want to kill him. Oh no, he didn't deserve that. She wanted to  _break_  him.

And she would, even if it was the last thing she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah I definitely don't wanna be on the wrong side of Adelaide's anger. SISTER SNAPPED. Anyway, so how cool is Project 1978, right? I mean her powers come from a freaking INFINITY STONE! It doesn't get more cooler than that.
> 
> Question: Um, I can't really think of one. What's your favorite thing about Adelaide? Have I already asked that one? I don't know lol. Just go with it, I guess. I'm too tired.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! An early merry Christmas to all of you in case we don't meet on Christmas day :) We don't really celebrate Christmas at my house but I wish we did since it's, like, my favorite holiday ever. And don't even get me started on Christmas carols. They're the best part about Christmas. Other than the presents, of course.
> 
> So quick recap on the last chapter: Adie found out that her powers come from an infinity stone and you guys found out that Adie was Project 1978, Graves may or may not have seen what Adie and Ned were up to, and Adie spilled the beans to Wanda who made our heroine promise to keep her updated on what happens with the files. Unless I'm forgetting something (which, I probably am), I think that's about it.
> 
> Now, about this chapter...well, let's just say you might want to read it sitting down ;) I'm not really sure what I want to do for the next chapter yet because there are so many storylines that I'm playing on right now and it's kinda hard to keep them all balanced sometimes. But I guess we'll see where this ends up going.

* * *

" _Do_ _you_ _know_ _another_ _Wanda?_ "

* * *

Wanda had to leave the next day but she made Adelaide promise to tell her everything that would happen. Adelaide promised, unknown to how situation was about to take a dark turn.

Adelaide was currently sitting in Algebra class, bored out of her mind. Other than the fact that her bladder was about to burst, there wasn't much else that she could concentrate on. Tapping her foot, she glanced at the clock on the wall. There was still 30 whole minutes left before she could leave. According to her bladder, she most certainly did _not_ have 30 minutes left to wait.

She raised her hand.

Mr. Hans glanced at her from above his glasses and then turned away. She frowned and raised her hand higher.

"...this is the formula used for a calculation such as this…"

Adelaide considered standing up on her desk to get his attention but she doubted that _that_ was the kind of attention she wanted. Instead she pushed her hand higher up in the air, waving it dramatically.

"...on the test, these formulas will not be available so please take a minute to memorize them…"

Adelaide's frown deepened. He was purposefully ignoring her. But why?

_Maybe because the last time you contributed to the conversation in this class, he had to escort you to the main office._

Okay, maybe he was ignoring her for a good reason. But she had a good reason to get his attention, too. If she didn't leave now, she couldn't promise to take responsibility for what happened after.

"...so as you can see on this graph here—"

"Mr. Hans!" she blurted. She could hear him sigh deeply before he turned around. There was some kind of expression on his face. Was it... _pain_?

" _Yes_ , Miss Rivers," he said cooly. She realized the whole class was staring at her. She lowered her hand.

"Can I use the restroom?" she asked as sweetly as she could manage. He looked happy to get rid of her for the next 5 minutes and agreed. Adelaide practically ran out of the classroom and down the hall to the nearest restroom. She didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to hold it in.

As she was turning the corner at full speed, she realized her shoelaces were untied. Before she could stop herself, she tripped on them just as she turned the corner and ran into someone, tumbling on top of them.

"Mfbl!" she said, getting a mouthful of their jacket. She hastily pushed herself back, trying to see who she had fallen on top of.

Adelaide felt her face temperature raise about a 1000 degrees when her eyes landed on Peter's face not too far from her own. His chocolate brown eyes bore into her blue ones. For one agonizingly long moment, Adelaide had trouble looking away from his lips. Then, she blinked, realizing that he was still under her and she was practically sitting on his lap.

Quickly, she scrambled up, swallowing. Her face felt embarrassingly red. A moment later, Peter hurried up, straightening his jacket and hair and avoiding eye contact with her.

 _What was_ that _?_

The question seemed to be ringing in both of their ears as they looked anywhere but each other. Adelaide stole a glance at him, noticing how flushed his face looked.

"Sorry about that…" she said, her voice slightly out of breath. She convinced herself that it was because she had been running.

"Don't worry about it," he managed to say, "It was...um, it was my fault."

Adelaide wanted to explain to him that it was her fault because she was the one who had been running, but the words were seemingly stuck in her throat. Instead, she nodded.

"Well...bye, I guess," she said, staring at her hoodie strings.

"Yeah...uh, bye," he said, beginning to walk away.

Adelaide stood there for a moment longer after he disappeared around the corner until her bladder reminded her why she was out here in the first place and she hurried to the bathroom.

* * *

Adelaide was sitting on the bleachers in the gym, staring at the wall across the room. Her gaze was distant and her mind completely elsewhere, distracted.

All night long, Adelaide had wondered about who the man who killed her parents could be. All she needed was some kind of identification. Even the color of his hair could tell her something. But, in the same way it had been for the past year, her memories were nonexistent. There was nothing that she could remember — not even one measly detail. How was that possible?

And then there was the thing about the infinity stone. Had her powers really come from one of the most powerful things in the universe? How could her mundane form hold that much power? She was a human and human bodies had limits. Comparatively speaking, the human form was weak. Take Vision for example. He could hold an infinity stone on his forehead. But he wasn't human. According to Thor, humans were too weak to even touch an infinity stone.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Ned sitting down next to her.

"Hey," he said gently. She gave him a small smile.

"Hi."

"Find anything else?" he asked, referring to the files. Their conversation had been halted yesterday when Coach Graves had decided to walk in. She still hadn't had a chance to scold Ned for the porn lie that he told but she figured that it could wait.

"No," she mumbled, her shoulders sagging, "Wanda was over yester—"

"As in the _scarlet witch_?" Ned breathed.

"Do you know another Wanda?" she asked. Ned grinned.

"Sorry," he said, not looking very sorry.

"I told her everything and she told me that the stone we saw was the reality stone."

"I've read about that one somewhere online. After I showed it to you yesterday, I did a little research," he said. Suddenly, his widened to the size of saucers. " _You can manipulate reality?!_ "

"No," she said, "Just create the illusion that I can."

Ned deflated.

"But based on what I read yesterday, infinity stones are too powerful for humans to touch them," he said. Adelaide nodded.

"I know."

"So how did your parents…"

"What if I didn't touch the stone?" she said suddenly.

"What?" Ned asked, confused.

"What if they just used the energy from the stone to power the accelerator but I never came in contact with it?"

Ned nodded slowly, the gears in his head spinning quickly.

"That would explain why your powers are limited…" he said. She nodded again.

"But Wanda told me something else, too," Adelaide said, tightening her jaw.

"What?"

"The man who killed my parents, the one who was after their research on photon energy, the one who my parents were protecting me from, the man who is the reason my parents had to experiment on their five year old daughter — instead of protecting me, my powers are the reason that man killed my parents."

"I don't understand..." he said with a slight shake of his head.

"When my parents put all of their research into me, it made it easier for him to get his hands on what he wanted. It was all in one place: me."

Realization dawned on Ned's face.

" _Oh_ ," he said, "Wait so you think that this whole thing is your — it's not your fault, Adelaide!"

"Maybe not," she said, staring at the ground, "But then why do I feel like it is?"

"Adelaide, you were _five years old_. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. You didn't even know there was a man who was after your parents!"

She sighed, feeling a headache coming. She dropped her head into her hands.

"I know, I know. I just...I wish I could do _something_. I want to find the man who...who killed my parents and make him pay."

Suddenly, an old memory flash in her mind.

 _Our daughter will avenge us_.

"Here," Ned said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out her flash drive and held it out to her. "Look through this again. All of the files. See if you can find anything about that man. And I'll look too."

Adelaide blinked at the little black flash drive in his hand for a moment. Then she took it, closing her hand around it into a tight fist.

"What if there's nothing in here?" she asked, not sure if there even was an answer to that question, "We've already looked through it once."

Ned looked at her. Adelaide was suddenly very grateful he was here with her — she could have never done this on her own.

"We'll cross that bridge once we get to it."

* * *

Adelaide twisted the flash drive around in her hand, staring at it closely. It amazed her how something so small held her entire life. She had become so dependent on it over the past few weeks.

"Hot chocolate?"

A mug of hot chocolate appeared in front of her and Adelaide looked up to see Pepper smiling down at her. She dropped the flash drive into her lap, taking the mug from her hands.

"Thanks," she mumbled, enveloping the warmth from the mug. She took a sip, realizing how much she needed it. "Is this...dark chocolate?"

"Of course," Pepper said, settling down on the couch across from her.

Silence settled between them for a moment as they enjoyed their hot chocolates. They could hear Tony yelling at his bots from the lab.

"So how's school going?" Pepper asked, breaking the silence. Adelaide took her time to answer.

"It's fine," she said. Pepper eyed the teenager. The whole reason she had put aside all of her work and business was so she could sit down and talk to Adelaide. She had been pretty distant lately.

They were silent again for a while.

"I ran into Wanda yesterday," Pepper said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. Adelaide nodded.

"She came over," Adelaide said distractedly. Her mind was still spinning with questions. Pepper sighed. This was going nowhere.

"Adelaide...is something wrong?" she finally asked. The teenager looked up, surprised at the question.

"No," she said, "Why?"

"I think you know why," Pepper said, tilting her head, "You've been so...distracted lately. You can tell me if something's going on. You know that, right?"

Adelaide looked away.

"Yeah, I know and I will tell you if there's anything, I promise," she lied. Pepper held back a reply. She knew the teenager was holding back, but pushing her to tell wasn't going to work. She stood up, deciding that Adelaide would tell her whenever she was ready.

"I'm going to hold you to your promise," she said. Adelaide looked at her again, the corner of her lips tugging upwards.

"I know," she said. With a ruffle of the teenager's hair, Pepper went back to her work, leaving Adelaide alone with her thoughts once again.

Now, a new question had planted itself into her mind: should she tell Pepper and Tony the truth?

* * *

Peter pushed open the door to his house, letting himself in. May always left it open for him.

"Aunt May, Uncle Ben, I'm home!" he shouted, making his presence known.

"In the kitchen!" he heard May shout back. Kicking off his shoes, he shrugged off his coat and hung it on the coat rack. When he walked into the kitchen, a delicious smell wafted to the teenager's nose.

"What's cooking?" he asked Uncle Ben who was currently standing by the stove in his _I_ _Heart Cooking_ apron, handling three pots at once. Ben lifted the wooden spoon in his hand up to his mouth, tasting the food. He let out a satisfied hum.

"Dinner," he answered, a smile on his face.

"What country is it from today?" Peter asked, grabbing a cherry tomato off of the table and popping it in his mouth.

"He's making Italian," May said. She was currently sitting at the island, chopping onions with tears streaming down her face. Peter offered her a tissue which she took gratefully. He then sauntered over to the stove to peek over Uncle Ben's shoulder. His mouth watered at the sight.

"That looks amazing," he said. Uncle Ben looked over at his nephew, grinning. Peter reached out to swipe some sauce on his finger for a taste when Ben smacked his hand away.

"You're going to have to wait," he said. Peter frowned.

"Have you got any homework?" May asked, sniffling. She was now crushing peppercorns. Peter almost felt bad for her but then he remembered the last time May had tried to cook anything by the stove and he shuddered. He didn't know what he'd do without Uncle Ben's amazing cooking. Probably eat instant noodles all the time. Or takeout.

"A little," he admitted. May gave him a pointed look.

"Well you better get to it. It's almost dinnertime," she said. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek before grabbing his backpack off of the floor and swinging it over his shoulder.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a mock salute and he made his way to his room. On his way upstairs, his eyes fell on the newspaper sitting on the coffee table in the living room. It wasn't the newspaper itself that had caught his eye...no, it was the big sum of money written on the front page.

He picked it up, reading it.

_Want to win 2,000 dollars in one night? Join us here and fight for your money! Earn your name! Become famous! Be the person everyone's afraid of._

Peter felt a grin coming onto his face. He could make 2,000 dollars! He'd become famous! That's just what he needed for his new abilities. He needed a stage to show them off and make his name famous. And all he had to do was fight. He could do that, it was easy. He'd already beat ten Flash, how hard could this be?

But he couldn't use his real name...he'd need an alias. Something scary...intimidating...something that showed how powerful he was. And he would need a costume, too. Something to cover his face…His mind was swirling with new ideas.

"Are you going, Peter?" May shouted. Startled, he almost dropped the newspaper until he realized that she was talking about doing homework and not a cage fight. Quickly, he folded up the newspaper and stuffed it into his backpack.

"Yeah, I'm going!"

* * *

Adelaide grumbled, scribbling her pencil across the paper. The lead threatened to break and she glared at it.

"You wanna make this harder for me, too?" she grumbled. With an angry sigh, she shook her head. She was talking to a pencil. A _pencil_. What was wrong with her? Mumbling angrily, she began scribbling again.

_You could always ask for help…_

Her jaw tightened at the thought. No. She was _not_ going to ask for help. Especially not after...No, she was going to figure it out on her own. How hard could it be?

She glanced down at the paper in front of her and the numbers began swirling almost teasingly.

_Admit it, you need help._

No! She - did - _not_ \- need - help! Especially not from _him_! She'd rather die than ask him for help after...after…

Adelaide looked down at her math homework angrily. No matter how confident she pretended to be, she was never going to figure this out on her own. But there was absolutely _no way_ she was going to ask Peter for help. It was too embarrassing.

But...she could ask Tony…

Quickly, she discarded the idea. She had tried it, once. It had been a complete nightmare. He kept talking and she couldn't understand a word coming from his mouth. He was like a robot, reading from some webpage. She needed a _human_.

There was Pepper, but she had been a little busier than usual since the holidays were right around the corner and the stock market was doing jumping jacks. She had enough on her plate already. Adelaide's mind drifted over to Happy. She shook her head quickly. He hated math as much as she did — even more, if that was possible. He would run away from like she was some kind of virus. An arithmetic virus.

She slumped against her headboard, letting out a sigh. She was back to Peter. Whether she liked to admit it or not, he really knew how to help her. He taught it right way, said the right things. He just...knew.

Biting her lip, she picked up her phone. She flipped it around in her hand, unconsciously stalling.

Should she call him? Maybe not...but…

Why was this so hard? It was just Peter Parker, not the queen of England. He was her friend...right? Were they still friends? Do people stay friends even after they...Adelaide was the last person on earth to know the answer to that question. She had no experience in dating whatsoever.

Wait... _dating_? No, no, no, _no_. One little kiss didn't mean that he wanted to _date_ her...did it? No, no way. It had probably been an accident. Maybe he had slipped and accidentally kissed her. The floor had been a little slippery…

But...that kiss hadn't felt like an accident or a mistake. It had been real. Very, very real. Which brought her back to her original question: should she call him?

Adelaide glanced at her phone, biting her lip. Her thumb hovered over Peter's contact number.

If she wanted things to go back to normal between them, then they would have to start pretending that nothing had gone wrong in the first place. And asking Peter to help her with her math homework would be the perfect way to do that.

Taking a deep breath, she tapped on Peter's contact and held the phone up to her ear.

" _Hello?"_

Adelaide swallowed. She had been so worried about calling him, she hadn't planned on how to ask.

"Hey...are you busy right now? I can call later if you want, it's not really an emergency and I under-"

" _I'm not busy, what do you need?"_ came his answer.

"Well, I, um...I kind of needed help with my math homework."

There was silence on the other end for a moment and Adelaide held her breath. It was so quiet she could hear the clock in his room ticking softly.

" _Right now?"_ he finally said.

"No, no, of course not," she answered quickly, "I was thinking this Friday...at the public library." Adelaide made sure to emphasize that the library was public and that there would be other people there and not just the two of them, alone. Peter seemed to understand the meaning.

" _Sure,"_ he said, " _An hour after school?"_

Adelaide nodded. "Yeah."

" _Well, um, see you then,"_ he said.

"Yeah...bye," she said, hanging up. Adelaide tossed her phone to the side, slumping against the headboard again. She let out a relieved breath.

Who knew talking on the phone could be so hard?

Just as she had closed her eyes, her phone rang again. In a heartbeat, she was sitting up, reaching for her phone. Was Peter calling her?

When she saw who was actually calling her, her face fell. It wasn't Peter. It was Wanda. Instantly, the gears in her mind were spinning. What could Wanda be calling her for? It was probably something important. She pressed the green button, holding the phone up to her ear.

"Hey," she greeted.

" _I wanted to check in on the situation for those files,"_ she said, getting straight to the point, " _Have you found anything new?"_

"No, I haven't really had a chance to look yet," she said.

" _Haven't had a chance? Adelaide, what on earth could possibly be more important than this?"_

"Uh...my math homework?" she answered, wincing. It wasn't necessarily more important, but it was what she had been doing for the past hour.

" _You're joking,"_ the witch said. Adelaide glanced down at the angry scribbles on her math assignment.

"Not really, no."

" _Well put that aside and look at the files!"_ she said, " _Call me as soon as you find anything. I'll get Viz updated too."_

"Okay, okay. I'll look at them now," Adelaide answered and then the line went dead. She put her phone aside and pulled the flash drive from her backpack. She flipped open her laptop which she always kept on her bedside table and plugged it in, waiting for the prompt. When the system asked for the password, she quickly typed it in.

For some reason, Adelaide had a strange feeling as she watched the screen load. She realized her heart was beating a little faster and her palms were sweating. Why was she feeling nervous? She swallowed, clearing her throat.

Finally, the system loaded. Adelaide's heart stopped as she took it in.

Instead of displaying the files, there was a completely white screen. And in the center were two words written in a bleeding red color that made her own blood turn cold.

_Stop looking._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who remembers where they've heard that last sentence before? *smirk smirk*


End file.
